Cookie-like Hamentashen


Ingredients:

  • 1 cup unsalted margarine
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/4 cup orange juice or milk
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 4 cups, approximately, all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • EGG WASH
  • FILLINGS (Chocolate Hazelnut Paste, Cherry, Apricot, Prune, or Poppy)
  • OPTIONAL: REGULAR OR COARSE SUGAR

Directions:

  • Cream the margarine and sugar, add eggs and blend until smooth (If mixture is hard to blend or seems curdled, add a bit of the flour to bind)
  • Stir in orange juice or milk and vanilla, fold in flour, salt, and baking powder and mix to make a firm but soft dough
  • Cover dough and let rest ten minutes
  • Divide dough into two or three flattened discs. Work with one portion at a time. (Wrapped in plastic, dough can also be refrigerated for 2-3 days.)
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  • Roll out dough on lightly floured board to a thickness of 1/8th inch
  • Use a 3 inch cookie cutter and cut into rounds and brush rounds with egg wash
  • Fill with a generous teaspoon full of desired filling and draw three sides together into center
  • Brush pastries with egg wash. If desired, sprinkle with regular or coarse sugar
  • Bake until golden brown, about 18-25 minutes
  • If you prefer, this dough can be made ahead and refrigerated (up to 2 days) or frozen (in either a disc of dough or already formed as filled pastries for a couple of months)
  • If refrigerating, allow dough to warm up before rolling out. For frozen pastries, bake without defrosting.
  • Recipe doubles well. About 4-6 dozen pastries.
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