Recipe from Shmil Holland
Adapted by Joan Nathan
- Total Time
- 2 hours 15 minutes
- Rating
- 4(486)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This tricorner pastry is as closely linked to Purim, a Jewish holiday which celebrates the Jews’ deliverance from a plot to kill them by Haman, as matzos are to Passover. Fillings of poppy seeds, nuts and dried fruits used to be as exciting as these Eastern European sweets got. But these days, unconventional fillings like marzipan, sour apple, dates with sweet red wine and cinnamon, and halvah are not uncommon. Here, a version for chocolate lovers. —Joan Nathan
Featured in: Modern Flavors Transform a Purim Tradition
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Ingredients
Yield:About 30 cookies
- 1cup confectioners’ sugar
- 2large egg yolks
- 8ounces unsalted butter at room temperature, in small pieces
- Grated zest of 1 lemon
- 2¼cups all-purpose unbleached flour
- Dash of salt
- 1large egg, beaten, for the glaze
- 3egg yolks
- ¼cup sugar
- 1¼tablespoons cornstarch
- 2teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¾cup milk
- ½vanilla bean, split lengthwise
- 2ounces bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
- 2½ounces semisweet chocolate chips
For the Dough
For the Chocolate Chip Pastry Cream
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (30 servings)
147 calories; 9 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 17 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 8 grams sugars; 2 grams protein; 13 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Put the confectioners’ sugar and the egg yolks in a food processor and blend. Add butter and lemon zest and process to blend. Gradually add the flour and the salt, pulsing until it forms a ball. Divide the dough in half, flatten each into a disk, wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Chill until firm, at least 1 hour or up to overnight.
Step
2
Meanwhile, prepare the filling: In a bowl, beat the egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch and cocoa powder until smooth.
Step
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Pour the milk into a small saucepan with the vanilla bean. Over medium heat, bring to a simmer, then remove from heat and remove the vanilla bean. Scrape the inside of the bean and add to the pan.
Step
4
While whisking vigorously, pour ⅓ of the milk into the yolk mixture, then pour back into the saucepan. Continue to whisk constantly while simmering over low heat until the mixture bubbles and thickens into a creamy pudding consistency.
Step
5
Remove from heat, add the bittersweet chocolate and whisk until the chocolate has melted and the cream is smooth. Pour into a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap, placed directly on the cream. Refrigerate until cool, at least 30 minutes. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Step
6
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 pastry sheets with parchment paper.
Step
7
Unwrap one of the chilled dough disks and place on a piece of parchment paper that has been dusted lightly with flour. Lightly dust the top of the dough with flour. Cover with a second piece of parchment paper. Let stand at room temperature until malleable, about 5 minutes. Use a rolling pin to press and roll out the dough into a ¼-inch- thick round between the sheets of parchment, flipping the dough occasionally. Use a plain biscuit or cookie cutter or glass to cut 3-inch circles, placing the circles on the prepared baking sheet spaced 1 inch apart. Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator to chill until firm while you repeat the rolling/cutting process with the second round of dough.
Step
8
Remove the first pan of dough rounds from the refrigerator. Place a heaping teaspoon of the filling in the center of each, and press up the sides to form triangles, pinching the ends closed. Top the filled cookies with a few extra chocolate chips. If the dough is too firm, let stand a minute or two to soften; returning the baking sheet to the refrigerator if the dough becomes too soft. Repeat with the remaining dough rounds.
Step
9
Brush the tops with beaten egg. Bake until golden and dough is delicately firm all the way through, about 13-18 minutes, rotating the racks front to back and top to bottom after about 10 minutes.
Step
10
Place trays on wire racks for 10 minutes before transferring cookies on parchment to racks to cool completely.
Ratings
4
out of 5
486
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Cooking Notes
Asia
I absolutely loved how these turned out. However the only thing I would like to add is that I didn't need the full 2 1/4 cups of flour. I ended up having to throw my first batch of dough out because it just wouldn't stick. Second time around I only added 1/4 c of flour at a time and took it out of the food processor when it was still fairly wet.
Jonathan
What weight does Ms. Nathan use for a cup of all purpose four? Please use weight in grams for NYTs recipes. Thank you!
MJS
I use Nutella mixed with mini chocolate chips in my chocolate hamantaschen. Much easier and tastes great.
Hannah
This is a nice recipe but the dough turns out too dry if you use all the flour, I added an extra egg yolk to compensate for that.
Cody
The recipe comes out great! Although as many have pointed out, the dough can tend to be too crumby as written. We added 5 tablespoons of water, which made the dough pull together into the right consistency :)
Judy H-M
My favorite hamantaschen are poppy seed, prune or apricot. I am a hamantaschen purist. But some of the grandchildren don't like the traditional flavors, and these turned out delicious. I had no difficulty with the dough. Just followed the directions and they turned out well.
Natalie
Turned out very well!! I don't have a food processor, so I whisked everything by hand in the same order as the recipe recommends. I actually ended up needing to add extra flour because the dough was still too wet. Folding was kind of difficult since it's so crumbly but once you get them pinched together they stay closed really nicely. Made half of them with the cream and half with poppyseed! The only thing I would change is maybe adding a little less lemon zest if you plan on using the chocolate
Alex
Unfortunately, the dough never came together. Added a little water, but when took out of fridge it would just crack...
Bob R.
I so miss my mother's hamantschen from long, long ago (I am 77+ yo).They were made with skill and love.What could be bad for a kid, or adult?
lsharrison
Um. Just convert?
LTK
Followed recipe but had the dough collapse on me. Possibly not enough flour? I see this happened to several other people. I put the second batch in the freezer for a few minutes to make sure the dough was nice and cool before baking but still didn't work.
Abigail
This dough is terrible! So crumbly I couldn't fold the triangles. Going to try a different recipe for the dough but the filling is delicious!
Natalie
The dough was much too fragile and delicate. I will always include lemon zest in my future versions of hamantaschen -- that was wonderful. But I need a hardier dough, probably one that uses vegetable oil. That is what I assume was the problem.
Karen
I didn't use the food processor as instructed, but instead my stand mixer, but mixed it in order and refrigerated dough before rolling and again before baking. Also found the dough too dry and crumbly when making corners. But in the oven it just melted into globs. Don't know what went wrong. I also doubled the recipe, and only came up with 40 cookies instead of 60. So maybe I rolled it too thickly? But I have a rolling pin with side wheels and it rolls a perfect 1/4". Oh well.
gitanjali
Can this be made vegan??
Bob R.
I so miss my mother's hamantschen from long, long ago (I am 77+ yo).They were made with skill and love.What could be bad for a kid, or adult?
Nina
I only made the filling, but it was really delicious. I used a chocolate sugar cookie as the dough, and added a dollop of raspberry preserves underneath the pastry cream, and a fresh raspberry on top. I have found this kind of thick filling keeps the cookie from deforming while baking.
Suzanne
Ugh! Believe the other commentators who noted that the dough ends up too tough. IMPOSSIBLE to fold. I followed the directions to a T and they were a mess. A tasty mess to be sure but a mess.
Kitchen Witch
Ok these came out AMAZING, BUT- I too added all the flour and ended up with a powdery mess. I added an egg yolk, and a half cup of sour cream like my mom used to put in her rugalah dough, and the rest was perfect. I’ve even got a bit of dough left. This is a next level chocolate cookie experience- my son and I are impressed with ourselves and will make again.
kap0w
Dough recipe was a total failure. Waaaay too dry and everything crumbled. Checked the recipe several times to see if I missed something but nope.
amy
Very good. Err on the side of under filling to protect shape
Jo L.
This was an epic fail for me--with a happy ending. Yes, 2-1/4 cups of flour was too much, and despite adding it very slowly, well, not slowly enough. That said, I was able to push the crumbly dough together enough (hands and pressing on it with a rolling pin) to cut out cookies--used a biscuit cutter--on which I plopped a tsp. of apricot preserves and scattered the end of the crumbled dough on top. Baked for 14 minutes in my unreliable oven. Not what I set out to make, but delicious.
Nickie Lisella
I found the dough a little difficult to work with - it was almost too dry and temperature sensitive
Alex
Unfortunately, the dough never came together. Added a little water, but when took out of fridge it would just crack...
Lorri H
King Arthur provides weight conversions on their website. I always go there. 1 cup AP flour is 120 grams so for this recipe 2-1/4 would be 270 grams.1 cup confectioners sugar (unsifted) 113.5 grams.https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart
filling was runny
Can't figure out what I did, but these look like a hot mess. Far too runny filling
Nick
These were great! I am not sure about the lemon zest. It tastes great but I think the dough with the chocolate doesn't need it. I might try orange zest or omitting altogether, maybe trying some melted peanut butter.
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