Chocolate Raspberry Hamentashen
Here it is folks, the recipe for the best hamentashen I’ve ever had. Three notes: use “Dutch process” cocoa powder (e.g. Droste) — it has a stronger flavor and richer color. The pareve butter flavor is made by McCormick — if you don’t like using “imitation” ingredients, skip it. Find the best preserves you can for the raspberry filling; I like the “778″ brand preserves from Israel.
Chocolate-Raspberry Hamentashen
1/2 cup margarine
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. pareve butter flavor
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 jar raspberry preserves
In an electric mixer, combine margarine, sugar, egg, vanilla, and butter flavor until well mixed. In a separate bowl, combine cocoa, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to mixer and blend together until well mixed. Divide dough into four pieces and chill for one hour. When chilled, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough out on a lightly-floured surface to approx. 1/4 thickness. Cut 3-inch rounds. Re-roll scraps. Place 1 teaspoon raspberry preserves in center of round and fold three sides up to form a triangle, leaving some preserves visible in the center. Pinch the corners and place on greased cookie sheet, two inches apart (hamentashen will expand). Bake for 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
Despite not winning the bake-off, our hamentashen turned out great. They were delicious and fun to make!
I don’t know why, but I had serious consistency problems when I tried this recipe. The dough was <i>way<i> too crumbly. They tasted terriffic, though.
That’s quite strange. Our dough was almost like soft fudge after mixing… very smooth. We used Fleischman’s unsalted margarine sticks, at room temperature… I can’t think of anything else that may have been particular to our preparation.
The temperature was the problem, I think. I was using The Great American Cookie Book Hamentaschen recipe as a guide, since the instructions were very detailed. The recipe called for "chilled butter," which usually produces a flakey dough; I guess that’s what that recipe was going for. The moral of the story is that all Hamentaschen recipes are not alike. Maybe I’ll try yours again next year.
I found that adding water- about 1/4 cup, more or less- made the dough pliable and easy to roll out and fold. Next time, I’ll try sifting the cocoa before measuring it & I’ll see if that helps.
The spice and Spirit Cookbook has excellent hamentashen recipes.
I am looking for more hamentash recipes that do not have margarine or sugar in them. Why do we need that unhealthy stuff?
You could try substituting vegetable oil for the margarine, to eliminate hydrogenated fats from the recipe, or you could use a synthetic sweetener (Splenda works well) in place of the sugar. Or, just enjoy your sweets in moderation, and it’s not so unhealthy. Purim comes but once a year!
I am looking for a simple hamentash receipe to use prunes as a filling. Please help.
Thanks.