Monday, March 21, 2011

Chocolate Hamantashen

(from "Queen of the Castle" by Lynn Bowen Walker)

In a large mixing bowl, beat:
1 1/3 cups butter
with mixer on high speed until butter is softened. 

Add:
1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
and beat until thoroughly combined. 

Mix in:
1 1/2 cups more flour (may want to do this by hand as the dough is quite stiff at this point). 
Divide dough in two, cover with plastic wrap, smush into flat disks, and chill until easy to handle, perhaps a couple of hours or as long as a couple of days.  When ready to bake, mix together for filling:
1/2 cup of a thick jam
1/4 cup chocolate chips
Set filling aside.

Remove dough from refrigerator.  Roll out one disk at a time on floured surface, to 1/4 inch thick.  (Keep flouring the rolling pin and your work surface if the dough sticks.)  Using a two-to-three-inch round cookie cutter, cut dough into circles.  Place two inches apart on wax paper-lined cookie sheet.  Plop 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of the jam/chocolate chip filling into the center of cookie.   Lift up three edges of the dough round and fold toward center, pinching the three outer points together tightly so not much jam is showing.  (Here's where they should look like three-cornered hats.)  Reroll scraps and continue until all dough is used.  Bake at 350 degrees for eleven to fourteen minutes.

hamantashan

1 comment:

Kecia said...

My brother and his wife brought hamantashen to lunch at my Mom's yesterday! Whole wheat, with strawberry, lemon, poppy seed, or chocolate filling. Mmm.