Having trouble making hamantaschen for Purim? Are your hamantaschen spreading or opening when they bake? Are they losing their shape? Maybe the filling is leaking. Perhaps you’re having trouble folding your cookies into neat triangles. Or maybe you’re just looking for an easy hamantaschen recipe that will get you perfect results, every time. Whatever your question, I’m here to help!
I have compiled this list of tips to help people who are new to baking hamantaschen (sometimes spelled hamentashen). It took me several years to master the proper technique and develop some terrific dough recipes. I now have a firm understanding of what it takes to make pretty and delicious hamantaschen. I want to share that knowledge with you, so you can avoid some of the pitfalls I’ve encountered over the years. Hopefully my tips will help obtain a tasty and beautiful result from the very first try! But first, a little history.
What is the meaning of Hamantaschen?
Purim is the Jewish holiday in which we commemorate being saved from persecution in the ancient Persian Empire. A symbolic food eaten during the holiday of Purim is hamentaschen (“ears of Haman”). Haman is the villain of the Purim story (more on that below). This triangular-shaped cookie is supposed to represent either Haman’s ears or his three cornered hat. The center of each “hat” is filled with jam or sweet filling.
According to the Book of Esther in the Bible, the Jews of the city of Shushan were threatened by Haman, a prime minister who convinces the King Ahasuerus to kill all the Jews (because the Jewish Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman). Haman casts lots (the word Purim means “lots”) to determine the date he would carry out his plan: the 13th of Adar. In the end, the Jews are saved by the heroic Queen Esther, Mordecai’s niece (and adopted daughter), who married Ahasuerus (after he banished his first, rebellious wife Vashti). When Ahasuerus discovers that his wife Esther is Jewish, he decides to reverse Haman’s decree, and instead of the Jews being killed, Haman, his sons, and other enemies are killed instead.
Tips for Creating Perfect Hamantaschen (Hamentashen)
1) Find a great dough recipe. Here are two foolproof, tasty dough recipes that I highly recommend. They are easy to handle and shape, and they provide great results when baked. You won’t need a food processor or stand mixer or any fancy kitchen gadgets (the buttery one calls for an electric mixer – the dairy free one, a wooden spoon). One thing you’ll notice – my buttery dough recipe does not contain leavening like yeast or baking powder. I found it stayed close better without the addition of leavening, and the texture was not affected. The cookies are easy to shape, and can be made quickly without needing to wait for a rise.
Dairy Free Hamantaschen Recipe
2) Roll your dough out to 1/8 inch thick (or less) on a floured surface. You want your rolled dough to be as thin as possible, while still being thick enough to maintain the cookie’s structure. 1/8 inch seems to be the magic number; sometimes I roll mine out even thinner than that. For a more doughy texture you can roll it thicker, but remember– the thicker the dough is, the harder it will be to handle and shape. Thick dough is also more prone to opening/spreading in the oven.
3) Use a thick filling that won’t run/weep from the cookies while baking. Knowing the proper consistency of a hamantaschen filling takes experience, because each type of filling is slightly different. Poppy seed filling has a very different texture than fruit filling, for example. A good filling should be somewhat thick so that it doesn’t run. However, you don’t want it too thick, or it will bake up dry or tough. It’s best to follow a tested and proven recipe. Try one of these fillings, which have all been thoroughly tested:
Rabbi Olitzky’s Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Filling
4) Cut your hamantaschen dough in 3-inch circles (or larger) before filling and folding into triangles. Anything smaller than 3 inches will be difficult to fold around your chosen filling.
5) Most fillings can be chilled before using to fill hamantaschen. I’ve found that fruit filling, poppy seed filling, and cream cheese-based fillings tend to be easier to work with when they’re chilled in the refrigerator. The chilling process thickens the fillings and makes them less sticky, which makes them easier to handle with when you’re assembling your hamantaschen. However, some fillings are better at room temperature — particularly chocolate-based fillings like Nutella, which will harden with prolonged refrigeration. Check your filling recipe to see if refrigeration is recommended.
6) Do not overfill your hamantaschen. Use roughly 1 teaspoon of filling per hamantaschen cookie – not more. However tempting it might be to put lots of delicious filling in the middle of your cookie, using more than 1 teaspoon can cause your hamantaschen to spread open and leak in the oven. 1 teaspoon is plenty, especially when you cut your dough circles to 3 inches… it’s the perfect amount of filling.
7) Fold your triangles the right way! Using the proper folding method will help your hamantschen hold together and create a beautiful shape. I’ve provided detailed, illustrated, step-by-step folding instructions below.
8) Remember, the filling will be very hot! Once you remove the baking sheets from the oven, move them to a rack to cool completely before serving.
Follow these tips, and you’ll be creating beautiful batches of homemade hamantaschen in no time! What are your favorite hamantaschen fillings?
How to Fold Hamantaschen
Ingredients
- Hamantaschen dough , recipe options linked in blog post above
- Filling of your choice , filling recipes linked in blog post above
Instructions
- Roll dough between 1/8 - 1/4 inch thick and cut into circles with a cookie cutter or glass rim that is at least 3 inches wide. 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.
- Repeat this process for the remaining dough circles. Bake according to recipe instructions.
NOTES
Nutrition
tried this recipe?
Let us know in the comments!
See recipe links above for nutritional information related to specific recipes.
Great Blog! Even though I am an experienced Hamentashen baker, it was great to review. One forgets from year to year!
I am a working girl, as are most people. I have learned to bake and freeze for time constraints. Your non dairy recipe does this beautifully. This year I cheated a bit with an experimental recipe. I used a Duncan Hines Red Velvet cake mix recipe for the Hamentashen dough. I filled them with a modified Rabbi O.’s filling from your site. I used confectioners sugar and white chocolate chips for the cream cheese filling. These are amazing and will appease all those that made the red velvet cakes the rage.
Just wanted to let you know that I used your hamantaschen recipe this year and it came out yummy! I used dates and chocolate filling.
Tori, your folding instructions are the bomb! No more coming apart with your method. Last night I made your dairy-free recipe. Yum!
We love your apricot filling!
Love your dough recipe. Will fill with fig jam this year. May make some with apricot jam.
Made your buttery ones yesterday and found pineapple preserves. My daughter said bakery quality! ? thanks @ Tori avey!!!!
Your butter dough recipe was awesome. So was the apricot filling!
Any gluten free dough recipes for these?
I know you said to use an ungreased cookie sheet, but would you use a silpat mat.
Silpat is fine Kelly 🙂
Thanks for the recipe and by the way they turned out good say my boys!
This is our first attempt at these and celebrating Purim!
It was great Praise Yahshua!
My first try at these cookies and these little guys were delicious! I made my own filings out of preserves and tapioca flour. She isn’t mixing about the dough drying out. Next time I would cut the chilled dough into quarters and only work with a few at a time. Towards the end of it I had the hang of doing 3 at a time. I also brushed mine with egg wash for prettiness. Great recipe!
We are studying Ester in bible study and I volunteered to learn to make Hamantasched for our last lesson. I have practiced once with the apricot filling for Thanksgiving. It is wonderful. Can’t wait to share with my church family.
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! I have been trying to find this recipe for a long time but didn’t know what they were called. I remember making these years ago for a school baking project when I was a kid but could only remember the shape of the cookies and the filling. I’m looking forward to baking these for the holidays this year 🙂
My dad and grandfather had a Jewish Bakery and they made apple hamantasch which was very good, along with the poppy seed and cream cheese. I loved the sweet flavor they were.
Wonderful tutorials, the dough recipes are both great I use them all the time now. Thank you!
I made 6 batches for Purim and they were beautiful and delicious! It was my first time to make Hamantaschen, and I couldn’t believe how well they turned out. Thank you!!!
I found your recipe via google, and I feel like I completely hit the jackpot. I’ve never made hamantaschen before in my life, and you made me feel like an old pro. I just posted photos of the results on my site, with a link back to your wonderful instructions. Thank you so very much!
Hi, love the recipe, and I am definitely gonna try it out! I just have one question, could it be made with rose hip marmalade, because we all love it. Do you have any suggestions how to make the rose hip marmalade a little bit thicker, to it what to add? Sometimes the homemade rose hip marmalade can be a bit runny.
Thanks
Hi Marina– I don’t usually recommend using jams or jellies because they tend to run as a filling. You could try thickening with a slurry of cornstarch in a hot saucepan, but that may make the jam cloudy and I’m still not certain it will become thick enough for filling these cookies. It might be worth a try though.
You are not kidding. These came out PERFECTLY. They are so delicious! Thank you!
Thank you Tori for this recipe.Wanted to make them for a friend for Purim they came out great.Used the buttery recipe and had no trouble at all.First time making hamantaschen.
Great Kim! Happy to hear it 🙂