A Purim Classic: Sugar Cookie Hamantaschen

For years, I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect hamantaschen recipe. I like my hamantaschen to have the texture of one of those slightly soft, slightly crumbly frosted grocery store sugar cookies I remember eating as a kid, and while I’ve occasionally found bakeries whose hamantaschen matches my vision of the perfect sugar cookie hamantaschen, no recipe I’ve baked at home has ever measured up. Until now, that is.

The pareve doughs I’ve made with canola oil and the like have never managed a sufficiently tender crumb (as Mary Berry might say). But some of the butter doughs have been just a little too rich and, well, buttery, more like shortbread than I want my hamantaschen to be. I’d thought some kind of solid non-dairy fat like refined coconut oil might be the answer, but that too yielded lackluster results. I haven’t yet tried any doughs using cream cheese, but watch this space—after all, there are still two weeks until Purim.

I was beginning to think the sugar cookie hamantaschen results I was going for weren’t possible without the use of industrial-grade ingredients like cottonseed and palm oils, which aren’t exactly pantry staples for me. But this year I decided to put my question to the excellent Jewish Cooking Facebook group, and the members did not disappoint. Someone in the group kindly shared Faye Levy’s recipe for One, Two, Three Cookie Dough from her International Jewish Cookbook, promising that the dough provided a great texture and flavor.

Turns out it really does! You could hardly ask for a tenderer crumb, and it’s buttery without being too rich. I think the addition of citrus zest and juice is helpful in curbing that aspect of the flavor. Plus, this dough is a dream to work with. It’s my new go-to recipe.

I opted to fill half of these with apricot butter, or lekvar, and the rest with leftover prune lekvar I had handy from last week’s poppy and prune oatmeal. Traditionally second in infamy popularity only to poppy seed, prune hamantaschen emerged in 1731 when Bohemian merchant David Brandeis was accused of selling poisoned povidl (prune and plum preserves, basically lekvar). He was freed from prison four days before Purim after the charge was proven false, and in celebration of his release Jews from his city celebrated with povidl hamantaschen.

I’m including the recipe for the apricot butter below, but feel free to swap in prune filling, the poppy seed filling from my yeast dough hamantaschen recipe, or whatever you like—if homemade fruit butters are not your jam (pun totally intended), feel free to experiment with whatever store-bought preserves you might have lying around.

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For the apricot butter (lekvar):

2 cups dried pitted apricots

1 cup water

juice of one orange

1/3 cup sugar

Combine all ingredients but sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer partially covered, 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in the sugar, and let simmer for an additional 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and allow to cool. Puree with an immersion blender, or pour prune butter into a blender, if desired. Refrigerate for up to two weeks.

For the sugar cookie hamantaschen dough:

1 egg

1 egg yolk

3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) plus 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut in small pieces

zest of one orange

juice of one orange

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Process briefly to blend.

Scatter butter pieces and orange zest over mixture, pulsing to blend until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Beat egg with egg yolk to blend. Then pour evenly over mixture in food processor. Process to blend, scraping sides of processor bowl down occasionally, until dough just begins to come together in a ball. Sprinkle with as much of the orange juice as needed to reach desired consistency.

Transfer dough to work surface. Knead lightly to blend. Shape into a flat disc, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 3 hours or up to 3 days.

To assemble the sugar cookie hamantaschen:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly grease.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out chilled dough ¼ inch thick. Cut out 3–4 inch rounds. Place a scant tablespoon of filling in the center of each round. Fold one “side” of the circle over the filling. Then fold a second side over so that the two sides form a triangular point, with the second side overlapping the first at the top of the peak. Then fold the third side in and over the other two, forming the final side of the triangle. Dab each corner of the triangle with water, and press ends together hard

Bake for 20–25 minutes, until just barely golden. Cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container or Ziploc bag for up to four days.

Sources: Encyclopedia of Jewish Food (Gil Marks, 2010); International Jewish Cookbook (Faye Levy, 1991)