Crisp and Classic Hamentaschen

The Jewish blogosphere is full of Hamentaschen recipes in preparation for Purim and the endless variations and creativity have blown my mind. I too am working on a "gourmet" hamentaschen (more on that next week) but to me, though I always appreciate creativity in cooking, when it comes to hamentaschen there really is only one that I crave year after year and that is the simple one that I grew up with. Truth be told, I have an aversion to most hamentaschen- I seriously dislike the big doughy ones and most that I have tasted are more cakey then anything else. I like mine small and crispy like a cookie and that is what these are- more a cookie-taschen then the typical ones you find in the stores. These also don't have margarine in them so I feel better about eating and serving them. When it comes to filling them the choices are endless, but for me I always stick to the classics of my youth- apricot jam, raspberry jam and if I am lucky enough to locate it, prune lekvar. In place of the prune and in nod to my Israeli side I used date spread this year and I'm quite pleased with them. Besides for the dough itself, part of the key to the cookie-taschen is rolling the dough so that it is not too thick. The dough should be thick enough that you can easily manipulate it to crimp but not thicker than that. Enjoy!



1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 1/2  cups flour + more as needed, you could need up to another 2 cups depending on the humidity in the air- you don't want the dough to be sticky. Add 1/4 cup at a time until the dough just comes together and is no longer sticky to the touch.

Cream the oil and sugar together until fully incorporated. Add the eggs one at a time and then add the orange juice and vanilla. Mix well. Mix the baking powder, flour and salt together and mix into the dough. You may need more flour so add more flour by the 1/4 cup full until it is the consistency of a cookie dough. It's best to refrigerate the dough for half an hour before you roll but you don't have to. Flour your rolling surface and taking small portions of the dough at a time roll out the dough so that it is thick enough to hold the filling but not too thick. Using the top of a glass or a round cookie cutter cut circles out of the dough.  Place 1/2 tsp of desired filling in the center of each circle and then form the hamentaschen by first crimping together the top of the circle  to form the peak of a triangle and then lifting up the bottom of the dough and pressing it to the sides to form a triangle. Place on a baking tray and bake at 350 for 7-10 minute or until lightly golden brown.


                                                            Ready for the oven....

                                                       

                                                              All done!