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The Best Ever Cherry Hamentashen

We eat hamentashen on the holiday Purim. They are triangle shaped cookies because Haman had a triangle shaped hat. My dad owns a bakery and is a baker my whole life. He makes these hamentashen every Purim. They are my favorite. When I was in college he always mailed me a box. Now I just make them myself. Hamentashen are traditionally filled with poppyseed filling or prune filling, but my Dad makes other flavors too. Cherry is my favorite, but you can also use apricot jam or use your imagination.
- Ready In:
- 1hr 15mins
- Serves:
- Yields:
- Units:
27
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ingredients
- 3⁄4 cup margarine, softened (not tub margarine)
- 3⁄4 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (I often just use a squirt of lemon juice)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
- 1 drop water
- 1 (21 ounce) can cherry pie filling
- sugar, for sprinkling
- 2 1⁄4 cups flour
directions
- Cream margarine in mixer bowl.
- Add sugar and beat till fluffy.
- Beat in egg, lemon peel, and vanilla.
- Add in flour and salt.
- Beat in water a few drops at a time until dough starts to come away from sides of bowl.
- Place dough in a 2-quart size bag and form into a flat disk.
- Refrigerate for a minimum of 2-3 hours and maximum of 2-3 days.
- Roll out dough flat about an 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface.
- Using a round cookie cutter or the top of a cup, cut out circles.
- Spoon 2 cherries and a little bit of filling onto the dough circles.
- To fold into the shape of a hamentashen (a triangle) use both thumbs and the two first fingers on each hand.
- Slide two fingers from left hand under left side and two fingers from right hand under right side and two thumbs under the bottom of circle.
- Bring all fingers (with dough) together to form a triangle and try to pinch close.
- Repeat this process with remaining circles and dough.
- Place on a cookie sheet lined with baking paper.
- Sprinkle a small amount of sugar on top of each one.
- Bake at 350°F for 12-15 minutes or just starting to turn pale golden.
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RECIPE MADE WITH LOVE BY
@Caryn Gale
Contributor
@Caryn Gale
Contributor
"We eat hamentashen on the holiday Purim. They are triangle shaped cookies because Haman had a triangle shaped hat. My dad owns a bakery and is a baker my whole life. He makes these hamentashen every Purim. They are my favorite. When I was in college he always mailed me a box. Now I just make them myself. Hamentashen are traditionally filled with poppyseed filling or prune filling, but my Dad makes other flavors too. Cherry is my favorite, but you can also use apricot jam or use your imagination."
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I loved this recipe! The batch didn't even make it beyond my husband and I because they were simply too scrumptious! I chose to do half of the cookies with strawberry filling and the remaining half with cherry filling. I snuck a few itsy bitsy chocolate morsels into a few just to see how they turned out and it was amazing! The dough was a wee bit sticky but with a little added water, it came together nicely. I chose to keep the cookies in the fridge as I made the rest of the dough because room temperature was not ideal for the sitting dough. The dough had the most amazing flavor and they all turned out unbelievably well! I will be making them again tomorrow evening. PS: It's wonderful to see another great rendition of such a wholesome Jewish dish :-) la-ChaimReply
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This is my first time making Hamataschen so I can't compare it to baking other recipes. I used gluten free flour and will talk more about that in a minute. I liked using margarine as I know traditional recipes have oil. I also really enjoyed using real lemon zest, you can taste it in a very aromatic way in the cookies. The water thing was difficult. I kept adding one drop at a time and it took a lot of drops. I imagine this is due to using gluten free flour, which is basically starch. The dough was a bit sticky but totally manageable by using flour on the surface and rolling pin. I agree that the dough is perfect for supporting the filling. The cookies wrapped up very nice. I used Bon Maman Cherry Preserves. Probably a bit to tangy. Wanted to do traditional poppy seed but could not find affordable poppy seeds. I also brushed mine with an egg and water mixture and sprinkled the sugar - both were a nice touch. The cookies taste great. The are very light and also fluffy and dense at the same time as deli cookies are. For me, using the gluten free flour made the cookie a bit starchy and I'd like to try the recipe again with normal flour though for purpose of being gluten free it is a great recipe to accomodate the substitution.<br/><br/>I only had time to refridgerate for two hours, I recommend more time. I used a standard circle cookie cutter, it was on the big side and too big. Also, it is true that you need just a small amount of filling - another recipe suggested a teaspoon. Possibly because mine were on the big side, it took about 17 minutes or so to cook.Reply
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