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TBB - Hamantaschen (Purim)

Rose's Alpha Bakers

TBB - Hamantaschen (Purim)

Patricia @ ButterYum

Hamantaschen - ButterYum

Welcome to week 13 of the Alpha Bakers bake-a-long, an online project where a group of food bloggers bake our way through The Baking Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum.  Most of the recipes made during this project will not be shared, but I will post my commentary followed by a full photo tutorial.

This week's selection - Hamantaschen - a triangular, filled pastry which is traditionally served on the Jewish festival of Purim.  Rose's recipe calls for a poppy seed filling, but I made the prune lekvar and apricot lekvar variations listed in the book.   

Special ingredients and/or equipment needed - 3-inch round cutter (scalloped or plain), poppy seeds, microplane zester, half sheet pans, small food processor, pastry brush.  

Optional ingredients and/or equipment suggested - silpat liners, #60 cookie scoop (2 teaspoons), small nonstick sauce pan, digital scale, prune lekvar, apricot lekvar.

How do they taste - They're okay.  We liked the soft vanilla pastry, but we weren't overly crazy for either of the fillings.  I think 2 teaspoons of jam-like filling per cookie is a bit much for our taste.

How do they look - They look just like little hats.   

Level of difficulty - Intermediate. 

Were the directions clear - Yes, although my yield was 18 cookies rather than 24 as the recipe stated.  Also, be cautious if you choose to make the prune lekvar variation.  The lekvar recipe (pg 107) makes 1/2 cup which is only enough to fill half of the cookies.  Thankfully I had leftover apricot lekvar in the fridge to make up the difference. 

What would I do differently next time - Try different fillings like fig or Nutella.   I might also make them a little smaller.  

Next up - Caramel Buns.        

Okay, here's my photo tutorial.  

Let's start today's recipe by making the cookie dough.  Cube some butter and pop it in the fridge to keep it chilled until we need it.

Grab some Turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw).  

Process the sugar in a food processor, spice grinder, or blender.

Add flour, salt, and butter.

Mix them up until they look like this.

DSC_6839.JPG

Next we'll need to add an egg yolk and really good pure vanilla extract.

DSC_6842.JPG

And a little heavy cream - mmmm.

DSC_6843.JPG

Pulse a few times until the mixture looks crumbly, but evenly mixed - like this.  

DSC_6845.JPG

Dump the mixture into a zipper bag.

Press the mixture from the outside of the bag to form a flat disk.  Zip the bag closed and pop it in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes (or up to 3 days).  Dough can also be frozen for up to 6 months. 

It's time to roll the dough.  I love to roll pastry on a floured pastry cloth.  And if I need to roll my dough to a certain thickness, I grab some rolling guides.

I also got my set of round cutters - this recipe calls for a 3-inch diameter cutter. You can use scalloped cutters too.

I like to roll my dough under a sheet of wax paper so I don't have to add any extra flour.

Cut out the rounds.  If your dough has softened to the point that it will distort out of shape when transferring to a sheet pan, pop it in the fridge for a couple minutes.  

Place the cutouts, 8 at a time, on prepared sheet pans.  You can line your sheet pans with parchment, but I prefer Silpat silicone liners.  

We need to add 2 teaspoons of filling to each cookie.  This #60 scoop is just the right size, and it keeps everything nice a neat. 

See, no mess.  I'm filling these with prune lekvar.

how to make hamantaschen. how to make hamantash.

And these have apricot lekvar that was leftover from The Ischler cookies we made a while back.

Use a small pastry brush to moisten the edges of the cookie dough with water.

how to make hamantaschen. how to make hamantash.

Now it's time to fold up the sides of the cookies.  I found it helpful to use something with a flat edge to do this, like this small offset spatula.  It worked really well and was easy to navigate around the other cookies.

how to make hamantaschen. how to make hamantash.

Continue until all 3 sides are folded.

Gently pinch the corners together.  Note: they won't stick together if the pastry wasn't brushed with water or if the water dried before you've had a chance to fold the pastry.  Check to make sure the folds stick together.

how to make hamantaschen. how to make hamantash.

Before you bake the hamantaschen, cover them with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (or overnight).  This will help ensure they keep their shape while they bake.

To bake the hamantaschen, preheat oven for 30 minutes.  Just before baking, brush the with a glaze made of egg yolk and a touch of heavy cream.  

Note: try to brush all the visible pastry surfaces with egg glaze - areas missed will be apparent after baking.  At the same time, try to avoid getting the egg glaze on the fruit filling - doing so will make the filling look cloudy.  This small pastry brush worked perfectly.  

how to make hamantaschen. how to make hamantash.

They look so good, don't they?

Which one would you like to try first, prune or apricot?  I'll take a prune - mmmmmm!

links to more alpha baker photo tutorials

-9 Comments
categories Cookies, Rose's Alpha Bakers, The Baking Bible, Holidays

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