This version, born out of the happy accident of a glut of the best dough I have ever made, stashed in the freezer for emergency and an accidental over order of orange marmalade, I now have a new Purim tradition.
The dough I am using is the transformative recipe (delicate yet incredibly forgiving) I shared last year as the base for the Chocolate Pecan Tart from my friend Laurel’s fabulous book, New European Baking, and it works absolutely perfectly for these cute little triangular treats. And the filling is an adaptation from Doris Greenspan’s Dorie’s Cookies and includes marmalade with the apricots to make a tart and sweet jammy centre. I added vanilla, upped the marmalade and didn’t include any nuts, but this is very much her idea.
The beauty here is both the filling and the dough can be made in advance and used not only this week for Hamantaschen but all year around for tarts, galettes and the fillings and bases for jam filled cookies and cakes.
Note: I have a selection of alternative fillings in my older Hamantaschen recipe here.
An addition of a little orange zest in the dough is a very welcome variation here and a great use of a whole orange if you make the dough before squeezing the orange juice into the filling.
Laurel’s Dough
- 120g (1/2cup + 1tbsp) butter, cubed and cold
- 220g (1 3/4 cup + 1tbsp) plain flour
- 65g (2/3 cup) ground almonds (or walnut or hazelnut meal)
- 60g (1/2 cup + 1tbsp) confectioners sugar, sifted
- 1/2 tsp flaky sea salt
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Dorie’s Filling
- 150g dried apricots, roughly chopped
- juice of 1 large orange (approx 80ml or 1/3 cup)
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1-2 tbsp orange marmalade (I like a little more than Dori)
- pinch of flaky salt
Make the dough:
In a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, rub the flour and butter together with your fingertips or slowly with the paddle attachment until its a uniform sandy texture and there are no lumps of butter.
Add the ground almonds, confectioners sugar and mix, followed by the egg and vanilla. Mix by hand until just incorporated, making sure not to overwork the dough.
Form the dough into a flattened disc and wrap it airtight in cling film. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and upto 3 days. You can also freeze it for upto 2 months.
While it’s resting, make the filling:
In a smallish pan, combine the apricots, orange juice, lemon juice and vanilla. Cover and cook on a medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until they are soft and plump making sure not to let all the liquid evaporate. Add the honey, marmalade and a pinch of salt and keep cooking gently for another 10 minutes until glossy and jammy.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool. I like to blitz mine a little for a smoother texture, either with a soup wand or in a food processor, but if you like a chunkier filling you don’t need to bother with this stage.
Allow to cool completely and place in a jar or covered bowl until ready to use. It will keep in the fridge for a week.
When you are ready to make your Hamantastchen, remove the dough from the fridge, and on a lightly floured surface, bash it with a rolling pin to break it up a little and soften it before rolling out into a 2-3mm (1/4-1/8 inch) thickness, turning after every roll.
Using a 9 or 10cm (3.5 or 4 inch) drinking glass or round cookie cutter, cut as many rounds as you can from your disc. Place the rounds to a lined baking sheet, spaced about 5cm apart and re-roll the dough as quickly as you can.
Drop a heaped teaspoon of filling into the centre of each round.
Shape triangle by by bringing three edges together. Make sure they are pinched tightly, leaving an opening in the centre If they become sticky before you shape them, pop the baking sheet into the fridge or freezer and chill until they are firm enough to handle.
I like to chill the sheets in fridge for minimum of 30 minutes or freeze until firm before baking. You can make the hamataschen upto this stage and freeze them on the cookie sheets for up to 2 weeks and then cook them straight from frozen (provided you have not already frozen the dough beforehand)
While they are chilling, preheat oven to 180C (350F).
Bake for 12-15 minutes until they just begin to colour on the sides (slightly darker around the edges). You may need to rotate your baking sheets half way through cooking Cool and devour (they are very delicious warm, so make more than you need as a few always disappear straight out of the oven).
These will keep for 5 days in a sealed container (but I doubt they will last that long). Happy Purim to all celebrating x
Have you made this dish?
Let me know what you think, share your efforts and any tweaks you made to the recipe on Instagram, don’t forget to tag #BuildingFeasts or email me on info@buildingfeasts.com
