Community Pick
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."
photo by Charmie777
- Ready In:
- 1hr 15mins
- Ingredients:
- 10
- Yields:
-
2-3 dozen
- Serves:
- 12-18
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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Reviews
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Very easy to make and delish! I used a full cup of butter and sugar along with the 1 egg. Just to add a little change, and because I didn't have a lemon, used a squirt of lime juice, and a 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract with the vanilla. I also used the strawberry filling and it was a suprise hit with the family. Next time I am going to use homemade apricot preserves. Why wait for Purim? -
Graet recipe! Thanks! I didi midify it a bit. First I used less sugar (2/3c), secondly, instead of regular flour I used whole wheat flour in one batch and whole spelt flour in the second batch. For those looking for whole grain, I highly recommend spelt. Whole wheat dough needed water, was not elastic and baked looking rough, although taste-wise both were great. Thanks for some a good dough recipe! (I used mashed steamed prunes with walnuts for a filling) -
I may have reviewed this recipe before since I've made it every Purim for several years, but this year posed some new challenges as I'm currently living in China. Since no pie filling was commercially available, I made fresh strawberry filling using this recipe (http://www.recipezaar.com/raspberry-blueberry-blackberry-or-strawberry-filling-385533), and Lekvar (prune) filling using this recipe (http://www.recipezaar.com/Lekvar-Prune-Plum-Filling-or-Apricot-54692). I accidentally used whole wheat flour, which actually worked out very well, especially with the prune. They were certainly a hit at this year's Purim dinner party. -
I used unsalted butter rather than margarine and made 8 batches for enough cookies for the entire 3rd grade. Thank you! Yes, after 40 something years of hamentaschen baking, this is the best recipe. -
WOW! No more buying Hamentashen for me. We went to a Purim party yesterday and these cookies were a hit. We used various pie fillings and each came out great. I think the apricot are the best. Thank you for sharing.
see 23 more reviews
Tweaks
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I made these this week and they were wonderful! The perfect texture, it was a delicate and tender cookie dough. I used 1 Tbs of orange peel instead of lemon peel and used drops of orange juice in place of the water. Everyone loved them. Thank you for a great recipe.
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Graet recipe! Thanks! I didi midify it a bit. First I used less sugar (2/3c), secondly, instead of regular flour I used whole wheat flour in one batch and whole spelt flour in the second batch. For those looking for whole grain, I highly recommend spelt. Whole wheat dough needed water, was not elastic and baked looking rough, although taste-wise both were great. Thanks for some a good dough recipe! (I used mashed steamed prunes with walnuts for a filling)
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After reading all the positive reviews, I was very disappointed with this recipe. I followed the recipe exactly, only substituting light butter for margarine. After refrigerating the dough overnight, the dough was very sticky and hard to work with. I ended up adding a lot of extra flour so I could shape the cookies, which made the final cookie bland. Also, the baked cookies were very pale in color.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Caryn Gale
Givat Ze'ev
Hi, My name is Caryn and I live in Israel. I love to cook (and eat too) and truthfully I love anything there is about food.
I am married and have 3 wonderful children and I can't imagine living anywhere else except Israel.
