Mmm, ears
Happy Purim! I am a good gentile wife, so I made hamantaschen. This dough recipe would make a decent galette dough; rolled into a tart shape and topped with jam (or pre-cooked and topped with a ricotta-based topping) it would be superb.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, cream together the soft butter with the sugar. Combine the egg, orange juice, and rind (or egg, milk, and vanilla), and beat the liquid ingredients well into the butter. Add the flour mixture by half-cups, beating in after each addition.
Scrape the sticky dough out onto one end a large piece of plastic wrap. Fold over one layer of the wrap, and use the wrap to form the dough into a large flattish disk. Then use the wrap to finish wrapping the disk, and chill for at least an hour, and up to overnight.
Preheat oven to 375.
Take chilled dough out, unwrap, and put between two sheets of parchment paper.* Roll out the dough to a thickness of ¼ inch. Cut out 3-inch circles with a biscuit cutter or a glass or whatever, and put the circles on an ungreased cookie sheet (you can put a Silpat or more parchment on it to make removal even easier) with 1-inch spacing. Gather dough scraps and roll out again, then put to chill for the next round.
On each circle of dough, put about 1 tablespoon of the filling of your choice. A nice thick non-syrupy jam is best here - something that holds its shape when you get a spoonful of it. Poppyseed, prune and apricot are traditional; almost anything is tasty. Some people do a chocolate filling. We used up bits of homemade jams and thick marmalades, and while tried the poppyseed version, most homemade filling recipes are a bit of a nuisance and I for one would just use jam in the future.
Makes 20-25 cookies.
*I suppose you could use wax paper, but really, if you like to bake just go buy a sheaf of parchment paper sheets online already . Not that expensive, makes life good. And forget that parchment-paper-on-a-roll nonsense.
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 pound butter, softened
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 2 T. milk or orange juice (pair orange juice with rind, milk with vanilla)
- 1 tsp. vanilla or grated orange rind
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, cream together the soft butter with the sugar. Combine the egg, orange juice, and rind (or egg, milk, and vanilla), and beat the liquid ingredients well into the butter. Add the flour mixture by half-cups, beating in after each addition.
Scrape the sticky dough out onto one end a large piece of plastic wrap. Fold over one layer of the wrap, and use the wrap to form the dough into a large flattish disk. Then use the wrap to finish wrapping the disk, and chill for at least an hour, and up to overnight.
Preheat oven to 375.
Take chilled dough out, unwrap, and put between two sheets of parchment paper.* Roll out the dough to a thickness of ¼ inch. Cut out 3-inch circles with a biscuit cutter or a glass or whatever, and put the circles on an ungreased cookie sheet (you can put a Silpat or more parchment on it to make removal even easier) with 1-inch spacing. Gather dough scraps and roll out again, then put to chill for the next round.
On each circle of dough, put about 1 tablespoon of the filling of your choice. A nice thick non-syrupy jam is best here - something that holds its shape when you get a spoonful of it. Poppyseed, prune and apricot are traditional; almost anything is tasty. Some people do a chocolate filling. We used up bits of homemade jams and thick marmalades, and while tried the poppyseed version, most homemade filling recipes are a bit of a nuisance and I for one would just use jam in the future.
Makes 20-25 cookies.
*I suppose you could use wax paper, but really, if you like to bake just go buy a sheaf of parchment paper sheets online already . Not that expensive, makes life good. And forget that parchment-paper-on-a-roll nonsense.