 We still need some more volunteers to bake or buy hamantashen! If you would like to help by baking or buying 3 dozen hamantashen, please click here and let us know!
Please deliver your hamantashen to the temple March 17.
Hamantashen Recipe Makes about 36 Ingredients: 2/3 cup pareve margarine or butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2-3 cups sifted unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Dash of salt 1. Cream the shortening with sugar. Add egg and continue creaming until smooth.
2. Add the vanilla. Stir in the sifted flour, baking powder, and salt until a ball of dough is formed (a food processor is excellent for this).
3. Chill for 2-3 hours, or overnight.
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
5. Taking 1/4 of the dough, roll out on a lightly floured board to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Cut circles of dough with a drinking glass or round cookie-cutter. With your finger put water around the rim of the circle. Fill with 1 teaspoon poppy-seed or nut filling and fold into three-cornered cookies. (Press two sides together, and then fold the third side over and press the ends together.)
6. Bake on a well-greased cookie sheet 10-16 minutes, until the tops are golden.
How to Shape a Hamantashen
1. Using your favorite rolled sugar cookie recipe or prepared store-bought variety, roll your dough out to 1/8-inch thickness and cut into 3-inch circles.
2. Place a teaspoon of filling in the center of each circle. Regular fruit preserves with lots of fruit pieces can be used, but don't use jelly (it will melt and dissipate, leaving you with an empty cookie).
3. Hold your hands so that the tips of your thumbs touch, your forefingers are straight up in the air, your left hand makes an L and your right hand makes a J. Place your thumbs at the bottom of the circle (see "B" in the chart) and slightly lift up the dough. Bring your forefingers down at an angle (between "A" & "C" and "A" & "D") and gently push the dough from all sides until it forms an equilateral triangle. Gently pinch the edges together and voila!--you'll have perfect Hamantashen.
By Tina D. Wasserman, a member of Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, Texas. Tina has been teaching at her own cooking school for more than thirty years and writes a kosher cooking newsletter on the Internet.
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