Each Spring I look forward to baking hamantaschen, which are triangle-shaped cookies that are eaten on the Jewish holiday Purim. The last few years, I have had trouble keeping the triangular shape of the cookie during its bake. Molly Yeh has suggested using an egg wash brushed on the cookie's surface before filling to prevent unraveling. Sadly, I still had many flopped open hamantaschen.
...but I finally learned the real trick to keep hamantashen intact upon baking...
CHILL THE DOUGH FOR AT LEAST 30 MINUTES OR OVERNIGHT BEFORE BAKING.
(Thank you, Claire Saffitz! She suggests ten minutes but that wasn't long enough for my overhandled, warmed dough from assembling the cookies so I would say at least 30 minutes or overnight. I did an overnight chill and was welcomed with a batch of perfect triangles).
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| a batch that didn't have a long enough chill time=flopped open hamantaschen |
This year's hamantaschen came from the Dessert Person herself, Claire Saffitz (of Bon Appetit YouTube fame). I also went the extra mile and used her recipe for homemade Earl Grey Apricot Jam but one can easily use store bought fruit preserves to cut down on time to make these. I did choose to omit lemon zest in the dough since I prefer a less citrusy dough in hamantaschen/babka/other Jewish baked goods.
The Recipe: Earl Grey and Apricot Hamantaschen from Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz
The Results: A lovely flaky cookie with a not-too-sweet filling. The Earl Grey tea infused jam added an extra gourmet flavor to these delightful cookies. And I cannot believe I made a batch of beautifully triangular hamantaschen! So don't forget to CHILL YOUR DOUGH before baking.
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