Earlier today I posted my Dairy Free Hamantaschen recipe. I also wanted to offer a butter-based dairy hamantaschen dough for those who prefer a more buttery flavored cookie. This dough produces a tender, sweet hamantaschen. While many who keep kosher prefer dairy-free cookies (so they can be served with a meat meal), others don’t mind adding butter to the mix. This dough provides a dairy hamantaschen option for your Purim menu.
I like this dough because it produces a rich, buttery, orange-scented cookie that is full of flavor. The dough will work with any hamantaschen filling, and it won’t open up/expand in the oven during baking, as long as you don’t overfill your cookies and your filling has the proper texture. There are a few drawbacks–it needs to be thoroughly chilled before rolling out (it’s too sticky to roll at room temperature), and it is not as flexible to work with as my dairy free dough. That is the nature of butter doughs; when cold, butter becomes stiff, which in turn makes the dough somewhat stiff and tougher to shape. That said, if you have some experience with baking and working with butter dough, this one should pose no problems for you… in fact, it’s one of the easier butter doughs that I’ve worked with. Note: if this is your first time making hamantaschen and/or butter dough, I recommend starting with my Dairy Free dough. It’s easier to work with than the buttery one, and the flavor is similar.
You can use any hamantaschen filling you like with this dough; I’ve linked to the filling recipes available on my site below. The key to a good filling is to make sure it is thick enough to prevent running, but not so thick that it bakes up dry or tough. All of these filling recipes are tasty, and they all have the proper texture for use in hamantaschen. I will update this list of fillings as I add new ones to the site.
Hamantaschen Fillings
Rabbi Olitzky’s Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Filling
For my Dairy Free Hamantaschen dough, click here. To learn more about the holiday of Purim, click here.
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Buttery Hamantaschen
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1-5 teaspoons water (if needed)
NOTES
Instructions
- Slice room temperature butter into small chunks and place in a large mixing bowl.
- Add sugar to the bowl. Use an electric mixer to cream the butter and sugar together for a few minutes till light and fluffy.
- Add the egg, vanilla, and orange zest to the bowl. Beat again till creamy and well mixed.
- Sift flour and salt into the bowl.Mix with the electric mixer on low speed till a crumbly dough forms.
- Begin to knead dough with hands till a smooth dough ball forms. Try not to overwork the dough, only knead till the dough is the right consistency. If the crumbles are too dry to form a smooth dough, add water slowly, 1 teaspoon at a time, using your hands to knead the liquid into the dough. Knead and add liquid until the dough is smooth and slightly tacky to the touch (not sticky), with a consistency that is right for rolling out. It can easily go from the right consistency to too wet/sticky, so add water very slowly. If the dough seems too wet, knead in a little flour till it reaches the right texture.
- Form the dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator to chill for 3 hours to overnight.
- Before you begin to assemble the hamantaschen, choose and make your filling and have it on hand to work with. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly flour a smooth, clean surface. Unwrap the dough disk and place it on the floured surface. The dough will be very firm after chilling.
- Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thick. At the beginning, it will be tough to roll out-- you may need to pound it a bit. A heavy rolling pin works best. As you roll, cracks may form on the edges of the dough. Repair any large cracks with your fingers and continue rolling.When the dough reaches 1/4 inch thickness, scrape the dough up with a pastry scraper, lightly reflour the surface, and flip the dough over. Continue rolling the dough out very thin (less than 1/8 of an inch thick). The thinner you roll the dough, the more delicate and crisp the cookies will turn out-- just make sure that the dough is still thick enough to hold the filling and its shape! If you prefer a thicker, more doughy texture to your cookies (less delicate), keep the dough closer to 1/4 inch thick. Lightly flour the rolling pin occasionally to prevent sticking.
- Use a 3-inch cookie cutter (not smaller) or the 3-inch rim of a glass to cut circles out of the dough, cutting as many as you can from the dough.Gather the scraps and roll them out again. Cut circles. Repeat process again if needed until you've cut as many circles as you can from the dough. You should end up with around 35 circles (unless you've kept your dough on the thicker side, which will result in less cookies).
- Place a teaspoon of filling (whichever filling you choose) into the center of each circle. Do not use more than a teaspoon of filling, or you run the risk of your hamantaschen opening and filling spilling out during baking. Cover unused circles with a lightly damp towel to prevent them from drying out while you are filling.
- Assemble the hamantaschen in three steps. First, grasp the left side of the circle and fold it towards the center to make a flap that covers the left third of the circle.Grasp the right side of the circle and fold it towards the center, overlapping the upper part of the left side flap to create a triangular tip at the top of the circle. A small triangle of filling should still be visible in the center.
- Grasp the bottom part of the circle and fold it upward to create a third flap and complete the triangle. When you fold this flap up, be sure to tuck the left side of this new flap underneath the left side of the triangle, while letting the right side of this new flap overlap the right side of the triangle. This way, each side of your triangle has a corner that folds over and a corner that folds under-- it creates a "pinwheel" effect. This method if folding is not only pretty-- it will help to keep the cookies from opening while they bake.
- Pinch each corner of the triangle gently but firmly to secure the shape. If any cracks have formed at the places where the dough is creased, use the warmth of your fingers to smooth them out.Repeat this process for the remaining circles.
- When all of your hamantaschen have been filled, place them on a lightly greased baking sheet, evenly spaced.
- Place them in the oven and let them bake at 350 degrees for 10-25 minutes, until the cookies are cooked through and lightly golden. Start checking them at 10 minutes; because the dough thickness tends to vary on these cookies they can cook quite fast if rolled thin. In most ovens it will take around 15-20 minutes, but best to keep a close watch over them as they cook to avoid overcooking or burning.Cool the cookies on a wire rack. Store them in a tightly sealed plastic bag or Tupperware.
Nutrition
Loved this so much I was told I had to make another double batch!!!
First try with hamentaschen and my husband and I had so much fun. Chose buttery dough and made 1/2 recipe of prune and 1/2 of apricot.Refrigerated dough 3 hours; it was really, really hard so we “hammered” with a hard rubber meat tenderizer—problem solved; then easy to roll and cut. The fillings were delish. 34 pieces.
I ran out of Vanilla Extract so I used Almond Extract and the taste was even better than in the Vanilla Extract dough. Everyone loves both doughs, but have received a lot of extra love with the the Almond Extract dough.
The crust was amazing.Light, and the orange zest adds wonderful flavor. After working it a bit, the dough was easy to work with and fold.
This recipe was so good. My husband, who hardly ever eats desserts, loved it. He requested to make some for his mother who is not jewish and had never tried hamantaschen before. So I used the recipe twice in a week and both came out great. The cookies needed at least 20 min for me. This recipe only yields about 15 no way I could make 20 more cookies from this recipe but I also rolled it to 1/4 inch. You don’t want to dough to be too thin because the jam will seep through. I still will save this for the next Purim.
Thank you for this recipe, these came out delicious! I’m also trying to figure out where I went wrong because my dough was on the drier side. While rolling it, I could already feel it was losing its elasticity, and while folding the circles they cracked and ripped…
I followed the recipe to the T, except I used 1/2 cup butter and 1/4 cup canola oil (didn’t have enough butter). While kneading and prior to refrigerating I don’t recall the dough being dry so I didn’t add any water. What do you think could have caused the dough to turn out like that?
Subbing oil for butter in a baked recipe can make a big difference though it might seem like a simple substitute, it often doesn’t work out like you might intend. I would need to test it myself, but my guess is the oil sub may have been the issue here.
Just a quick question: do you happen to have a wholemeal version of this recipe?
I made these with my 5-year-old. The recipe was easy to follow and the hamantaschen came out super nice. We made them with Nutella filling which was really really good and my family and neighbours really enjoyed them. I would love to see metric measurements in the recipes – cups for flour and sugar are fine but I got really lost with 3/4 cups of butter. It’s of course possible to google which I did but it would just be nice to have it right there in the recipe.
These are fantastic! Your insrtuctions are wonderful and easy to follow, thank you!
I’m wondering why this recipe does not include baking powder? Was it an oversight?? I used a 3-1/2” cookie cutter and they came out very small & flat.
Baking powder causes the cookies to pop open and lose their shape, that is why it is not included in the recipe.
Amazing! This was the first time I think my hamantaschen have actually come out well. Truth be told I got impatient and didn’t let them sit the proper 3 hours in the fridge, but they were beautiful anyway. In addition, orange is wildly expensive here so I subbed for lemon zest and it was DELICIOUS. Highly recommend, if you prefer that taste.
The recipe says the dough should be chilled. YES! This is important. I had trouble handling the dough unless it was quite cold. I used a couple of sheet trays and alternated putting the dough (whether rolled out or already cut into circles) into the fridge and/or freezer for a few minutes. It was tedious but, in the end, I got about 24 wonderful Hamantaschen! I used jarred jams – cherry and pumpkin. I also made a few Nutella. Only one leaked a bit. The instructions here are terrific. Great recipe that I will use again!
Can these cookies be frozen after they’re made? My sister wants to try them, but it may be a while before I see her!
Yes, depending on filling. Most fruit fillings will freeze beautifully.
Thank you so so very much for posting this recipe. I had the most lovely day making a triple batch of these with my children and they came out fantastic. Much of our success was due to your explanations, pictures and tips along the way. When my wife cam home she said they were the best she has ever had. Thank you and a very happy Purim to you.
So glad to hear that! Chag Sameach!
3rd year making these and it continues to be the best recipe ever. It’s more work than the parve dough but the flavor is worth it. And it’s pretty forgiving even when it rips a little because I let the circles dry out a bit. Never had a single one open woth this recipe, which happened to me a lot in the past. It’s even pretty good at keeping runny jams contained.
First time making them I used the buttery dough and ended up with about 35….. used Nutella, cherry and apple….. they’re not as pretty as yours but they’re delicious 👍. great recipie….. I’ve made all your challah recipes and you’re
The best!
This is 5 stars 👍