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)
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.
NOTES
Nutrition
Do these freeze well? Would you recommend one dough recipe over another for freezing?
Hi Susie, I have never frozen either dough but I’m guessing they would both freeze well, as long as the filling you use is freezer-safe.
I tried the recipe and they turned out incredible! Thank you Tori. This was my first attempt at hamantashen and they could not be more tasty. In fact my husband and I tried them side by side with all the grocery store produced pareve hamentashen and these are from another planet. Just worth mentioning i left the dough in the fridge over night, it was very hard and needed my husbands help to pound it down. I’m making them again even though Purim’s over and will try it for just a few hours in the fridge. The cheesecake filling was delicious. Also did a filling with raspberry jelly and melted ghirardelli chocolate chips which was wonderful too. Thank you so much for including the photos and important details.
Terrific Stephanie! The chocolate raspberry filling sounds fantastic. 🙂
Thank you! Thank you!! We were a week late, but these were snatched up in an hour at our Hebrew class last night (where we celebrated Purim, and read all of Esther). We used a healthy apricot jelly, and a healthier nutella purchased at Wegman’s, and we’re still talking about them today. Great recipe, as is!!
Thanks for reporting back Laura!
holy smokes these were so good. i almost gave up on making hamantaschen after a few years. after yesterday’s purim, this recipe is now officially in the family. thank you.
Great to hear that Inna!
So, we followed the recipe very closely and they look great however once cooled are hard as rocks! Any suggestions?
Hi Staci– you likely baked them too long, or over-kneaded the dough. It’s also possible your oven runs hotter than mine, which made them bake faster. They should be tender, not soft but not hard. You may be able to soften them up a bit by putting them into a sealed Tupperware container with a slice of bread or a small slice of apple. Next time you make them, try not to overwork the dough and bake them a little less– hopefully that will help.
What would happen if you didn’t grind the poppy seeds? Can you leave them whole? Will the answer come to my email?
Hi Marian– the only way you’ll get the answer in your inbox is if you subscribe to comments on this post, unfortunately I don’t have time to respond to each reader individually (as much as I wish I could!). If you’re talking about my poppy seed filling recipe, you need to grind the seeds. If you don’t, the filling will turn out too liquid and won’t be thick enough to use as a cookie filling.
I subsituted the orange zest with pinapple juice and i couldnt have been happier with the result. My husband said they were the best hamentaschen he has ever tasted.
Great Brooke!
Just did a marathon sesssion with my 5 year old daughter: both doughs and the apricot and prune fillings. Loved everything. Both fillings were the perfect consistency and not too sweet. My daughter could help more with the dairy-free dough which was fun and so easy to roll. The butter dough was my favorite once baked. We gave up on your tri folds and just did the more traditional ‘pinch-up’ I grew up with. Faster and easier for both of us. Thanks so much for these recipes. I’m going to print and put in my Jewish cookbooks – they are better!
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Thanks
Done CJ!
Yes, men do like to cook. Next time I make these I am definitely going to use a little more water as my dough did crack while folding the triangles. It also got a little warm and soft, so I might work one half of the dough at a time. Nevertheless, they came out wonderful. I had a batch of lemon curd (Ida Garten’s recipe) and tried filing some with that. The lemon curd puffed up while baking then collapsed, but the result was delicious. I also used a microplane grater for the orange zest.
Great Ira! Lemon curd sounds delish. 🙂
Tori, I usually make my Hamentashen with oil and orange juice. I love baking with butter so I am excited about trying these. If I were to substitute orange juice for the orange zest, how much juice would I use ?
Hi Diane, I don’t recommend substituting orange juice for the orange zest. If you end up needing to add liquid to the dough you can use orange juice for that instead of water.
I used your recipe to make hamantaschen for the first time ever last night and they came out great! To cut down on time I put the dough in the freezer for 45 minutes instead of the fridge for three hours. As a result I got quite the arm workout trying to roll out that dough, but it softened up eventually! My husband brought a few into work and all his colleagues asked why he didn’t bring more, so I’m going to be making another batch tonight. Thanks for this excellent recipe!
You’re welcome Leila!
Your step by step photos are a lifesaver!! Thank you for the recipes. Made these buttery hamantaschen today. My husband loved them. I also made a batch with banana pudding in the dough to make a banana split hamantaschen.. they are soooo good hahah. Anyway, thanks a bunch! Pray you have a blessed and delight-filled Purim 🙂
What a great idea re: banana pudding!
This is the first time EVER my hamentashen have stayed triangular and not burst open! I used the buttery recipe and it was a bit hard to work with it. (oops, didn’t read the comments until after…) I could handle it, but it was really tough for my kids to figure out. I will try the dairy free next year – or later this week, we have tons of filling left. Which leads me to my next comment which is that the apricot filling is out of this world! An absolutely perfect sweet-tartness. Sorry, Solo, I will never buy it canned again!
That’s great Debbie! Definitely try the dairy free dough if you have a chance, I think you’ll find it much easier to work with. Glad you liked the apricot filling, too!
Hi Tori,
Thanks to you I made great hamentashen last year (my first time – took me a few tries but your directions are great).
Quick question: is the buttery dough recipe here the same as what you posted on your site last year?
Thanks,
Jenny
Hi Jenny, both the buttery and dairy free doughs were on my site last year. They are both very similar, but the buttery dough is slightly more tender and… well… buttery! 🙂
Thank you Tori, you make it all look so easy. I will be making mine this week.i made my dough and put it in the fridge, so that when I have time, I will continue with making Hamentashen. Is this a alright? Can the dough sit in the fridge for a couple of days!
Hi Marilyn, the longest I’ve let the dough sit is overnight. Beyond that I’m not sure, I wouldn’t want it to dry out on you!
hi Tori,
I grew up having cherry hamantashen! They were my favorite and are now my children’s favorite! (my husband’s too!) I made the prune and apricot last Purim and they were incredible! Do you have a recipe for cherry filling that I could surprise them with? I just bought frozen pitted cherries, but don’t know what to do with them!
Thanks,
Lara
Hi Lara, I do have a cherry filling recipe somewhere in my files, but I use dried cherries for it. I will probably post it next year, I won’t have time to put it up this year unfortunately. So happy you’re enjoying the recipes!
Hi, I love buttery cookies so I’m going to give your Hamintaschen recipe a try this year. Can I be lazy and use store bought jam as the filling? Are there any ready made fillings out there that would work? Purim sameach!
Hi Amy, I do not recommend using store bought jam, it will leak out of the cookies and isn’t thick enough to hold the proper texture. There are some fillings on the market, Solo makes a canned poppy seed filling and Love ‘N Bake makes several fillings which you can find in the “Assorted Products” section of my market: https://theshiksa.com/market/fine-foods/assorted-products/ Or make your own. It’s really quite easy, I have several filling recipes on the site and they’re all quite simple.
thank you so much for this amazing recipe! this is the first time my hamantaschen have actually tasted good and stayed triangles!! 🙂
i used homemade jam for the filling and found that it boiled down during cooking, to the point where the wells of the cookies were crusted with jam but looked empty. do you have any tips for keeping the volume of jam filling? i was afraid to add more for fear the cookies would break open.
Hi Leah, so happy the recipe was a success! I do not recommend using jam for filling, as it’s not thick enough to bake up properly. Try one of the suggested fillings instead (linked in the blog post above), or use a canned pastry filling, which will have the proper consistency to withstand baking.
Thank you for this Buttery dough recipe, I have always used my Christmas Shortbread with varying results. I make “zesty sugar” whenever I have Citrus fruit around…simply grate washed/dried Lemons, Oranges, Mandarines, Limes or Kumquats into Berry Sugar and store in airtight containers. (It might get a bit hard, but it breaks up easily). That way it is ready for use all the time, great for Whipped Cream, Meringues, & Macaron recipes. I am also using more Almond flour for my friends who are diabetic or trying to use less Wheat flour. Almond and Apricot are so perfect together.