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
What kind of lemon/orange zest? Can it be powdered? Or does it need to be fresh? I’ll be trying these on Monday! Can’t wait!
I use fresh zest, Rebekah. 🙂
This recipe is shockingly excellent. Shocking because I usually don’t like hamantaschen and because I have never made it before. Excellent because the cookies came out delicious! The dough was easy to work (for a butter dough), and stayed easy to work long enough to enjoy time with my 3-year-old helper. This is a winner we will be enjoying as a family for years to come.
There is no egg listed in the ingredients, which concerned me, as other Hamantaschen recipes call for egg(s). Then I got confused even more when I read this: “Add the egg, vanilla, and orange zest to the bowl. Beat again till creamy and well mixed.”
BML – not sure what you’re talking about, it’s the third ingredient listed – “1 egg, room temperature”
Can I freeze theses. I freeze all the cookies I make and never have a problem?
They should freeze fine, Susan.
Thank you for sharing this recipe! The dough was very easy to work with and baked perfectly. What a great idea to try making these with dulche de leche and apples! I didn’t have a lot of time so I used a store made dulce de leche from Trader Joe’s and added thinly sliced/diced apples mixed with cinnamon sugar. It was delicious!
Just made these with Smart Balance margarine and they came out great. Edges were a little on the crunchy side, so i would suggest limiting the cooking to really 20 minutes. Check at 15 minutes, and if you don’t like your hamantaschen crunchy, remove from the oven before the edges get too brown.
Is there no baking powder in the pastry for buttery hamantashen?
No, Betty. I found with this dough that any kind of leavening made the cookies more prone to pop open in the oven, and it didn’t affect the texture of the cookie much at all. Came to this conclusion after a lot of experimentation.
i am a very inexperienced and discouraged baker. hamantaschen is the only thing that i bake (aside from my occasional and failed attempts to make challah) and i have been using your recipe for the past few years. they come out indulging and delicious, and your directions are very easy to follow. thank you!
Hi, has anyone tried filling them with a tsp of chocolate chips? I’m wondering if this would work for a chocolate filling. Thanks!
I have filled them with peanut butter, chocolate chips, Nutella, etc. it’s all good. Just make sure the sides are secured or the filling will leak out.
My grandmother’s sister made these when we were young and I can’t wait to try them. They look easy and delish
Hi, what can I sub the orange zest for?
Lemon zest, or just omit. 🙂
My family is not Jewish but we love hamantashen which I bake occasionally ever since I got a Jewish recipe book at a local Habad’s Jewish festival. Is the singular word not “Hamantashe” since it is either a Yiddish or German word?
Happy Purim.
Good question. I have only ever heard them called “hamantaschen.” Definitely a question for a Yiddish speaker!
Hamantasche is singular. I like to make lots of hamantaschen which is the plural!!!
Thanks for clearing that up Laura! 🙂
On a similar note, I always hear then called HO-men-tash-en not HEY-men-tash-en. Perhaps so I don’t have to boo whenever someone says it. I just made these and used off the shelf preserves for the filling. It worked great. There were just a couple that ran a line out of the cookie. I suppose I could reduce the preserves a little so they have less water if it bugged me. But it doesn’t and may way is easier. Happy Purim.
hi tori!
have you ever used Earth Balance as a substitute? assuming i’d follow as though butter even though it is a non-dairy “butter”, and therefore would need the chill and the mixer, but curious if you’ve ever experimented with this before i do 🙂 thank you!!
Hi Liat! If you’re subbing Earth Balance I would suggest using the Vegan Buttery Sticks, and you might want to cut the salt to 1/8 tsp. The spread in the tub is too soft to make a nice dough. Just FYI, if you’re looking for a dairy free recipe, this one is VERY similar in terms of flavor/texture and doesn’t include any butter or margarine: https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/2012/03/dairy-free-hamantaschen/ I would recommend using that over subbing Earth Balance in this recipe.
I have been making these for a few years now and they are perfect every time, thank you!
Can I substitute the sugar for honey ?
I don’t recommend making any substitutions in this recipe due to the nature of the dough and shaping process, honey will make it more sticky and less easy to mold/shape.
I am not Jewish, and I am excited to make these for my beloved Jewish boyfriend this year! Dorie Greenspan has suggested rolling cookie doughs to the desired thickness before chilling (and cutting, forming and baking.) Do you think this would be appropriate for your hamantaschen dough? Thank you!
Hi Beth! If you would like to do that you certainly can, just know that at room temperature the dough can be a bit sticky and harder to manage. Chilled dough is easier to roll out, plus the longer you leave the butter dough at room temp the more the butter will melt. If you can work fast and manage the bigger swath of dough (can you find room in your fridge?) then by all means, give it a try! Dorie is a baking genius, so definitely worth listening to her tips. 🙂
Can I make the dairy free hamantaschen dough and freeze it till I need it.
Hi! I just wanted to let you know that I tried this recipe and loved it! Thank you, and special thanks for the detailed instructions; they were very helpful. (I modified the recipe slightly by omitting the orange zest and adding cinnamon – because I’m a cinnamon fanatic – but it still worked.)
I’ve tried this recipe and the cookies came out very crunchy, almost like a fortune cookie. Is this what they are supposed to be like?
Hi Nathan, they aren’t supposed to be crunchy, but they aren’t a tender cookie either – somewhere in between. If you decide to try again and are looking for a more tender result, kneed the dough less – it takes a light touch for it all to come together – and bake for slightly less time.
no they shouldnt be crunchy, This is the 4th year im using the dairy recipe and they always come out prerfect
Tori, I attempted making my first oznei haman past purim, and I used all of your recipes. Everyone were amazed at how delicious they are. The poppy seed filling came out perfectly, just like my grandmother used to make it, and she even said it came out better than hers. The buttery dough, I used a filling of dolce de leche with walnuts. Let me tell you, the mixture of the sweet dolce de leche with walnuts coupled with the citrus buttery dough was amazing.