Ahh Purim, Jewish Halloween and St. Patrick's Day all rolled into one. The day that parents have their bottles of Advil ready (from the endless graggering) and we all nosh on hamantaschen, three-pointed cookies reminiscent of Haman's hat.
Now I dutifully make these cookies and every year and while they taste delish, mine don't always come out the prettiest. Unless we're giving pretty points for having sprinkles, then mine definitely are up there. To that end, I asked around for tips on how to get the best hamantaschen and since there's no gatekeeping (no literally I asked for tips for a blog post), I am sharing them here!
Before we get into the tips, I also asked what flavors people liked best or what flavors they were making this year. Traditional flavors like fig and chocolate (and chocolate with sprinkles) were reported and Ronit from @Nosh.Play.Learn said she had a biscoff flavor last year that was "unreal." Our friend Jennifer Ebner told me she was making a Samoa flavor as well as a Dubai-chocolate inspired cookie this year. Hello, sign me up we'll take multiple of each thanks.
Now for the tips. The biggest tip I got was to CHILL THE DOUGH. Thank you to Faith Kramer at @blogappetit for the hat tip on this. Faith says to chill the dough three times before baking: "before rolling, after rolling and cutting circles, and then after filing and shaping. The most important being the first and third chills." Rachael Jablo at @rljablo shared the same sentiment, "freeze before baking and they won't turn into an unformed blob." I have never chilled hamantaschen dough before baking but it makes sense since chilling the dough is key in sugar cookie making before using any kind of cookie cutter. Nonetheless, ya girl will be chillin before fillin this year (we'll see how the longer process goes over with my two of cookie-making age children). NO UNFORMED BLOBS HERE!
Faith was kind enough to share more tips: "don't overfill! Use cold water or egg wash to seal the seams, folding is another way to get the shape" (rather than pinching, Faith said she thinks folding is easier and more reliable). Ronit also shared the same tip, so fold baby fold.
Faith also shared some recipes if you need any inspiration!
Fall spices put some spring in your hamantaschen
Fight evil this Purim with sweet carrot hamantaschen and tortellini with chickpeas
Cook | Cookies for Purim do double duty as gifts and party nosh
A hamantaschen hat trick: tahini, peanut butter, berries
Happy Baking! Don't forget to tag @dashaynapunims in your pics so we can see!
Courtney