Hamantaschen Cookies

Close-up of Hamantaschen filled with jam

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Hamantaschen Cookies

These Hamantaschen Cookies are made with a shortbread dough stuffed with sweet jam. While these popular Jewish cookies are traditionally enjoyed for Purim, they're great for Hanukkah too.

Step-by-step photos can be seen below the recipe card.

Prep Time35

Cook Time15

Chill Time1

Total Time1 50

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Jewish

Keyword: best hamantaschen cookies, Hanukkah desserts, Purim hamantaschen

Servings: cookies

Ingredients

¾ cup unsalted butter room temperature
¾ cup powdered sugar
1 large egg room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp grated orange or lemon zest
2¼ cups flour spooned and leveled
¼ tsp salt
5 tbsp raspberry jam
5 tbsp apricot jam

Instructions

Cut the room temperature butter into cubes and place in a large mixing bowl. Add in the powdered sugar and cream together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in the egg, vanilla, and orange zest; beat until thoroughly combined.
Sift the flour and salt into the bowl.
Blend until the dough forms large clumps. (To test, take a little bit of the dough and press it together with your fingers; if it holds together, it’s good to go. If it feels crumbly, add water, 1-2 tsp at a time only if necessary. Be careful—too much water will require more flour, which will make the pastry tough.)
Using your hands, begin to knead dough until it comes together into a smooth soft ball. (Try not to overwork the dough. It should be slightly tacky, but not at all sticky, with a good texture for rolling.)
Flatten the ball of dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator for 1 hour or overnight.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and have your jam ready to go.
Unwrap the dough and place on a clean work surface that's lightly dusted with flour.
Using a heavy rolling pin dusted with flour, roll the dough between ⅛ to ¼" thick. The chilled dough will be firm and initially a bit tough to roll out. Let it sit for a couple of minutes to soften. (Don't worry too much if the dough breaks along the edges as you're rolling, since you will be re-rolling the scraps.) Lightly re-flour the rolling pin occasionally to prevent sticking, if necessary.
Using a 3" cookie cutter or glass with a 3" rim, cut as many circles out of the dough as you can.
Collect the scraps of dough, re-roll, and cut more circles. Repeat this process until you can't make any more circles from the dough. You should end up with about 30 circles (the thickness of your dough will determine how many you get.)
Using a thin spatula, gently slide under each circle to release it from the work surface and transfer to the prepared baking sheets, 1" apart.
Put 1 rounded tsp of jam in the center of each circle, do not overfill, then fold up the edges to form a triangle, pinching the 3 corners together gently but very well to secure the shape and prevent filling from leaking while baking, leaving the center of the filling exposed. (Use the warmth of your fingers to smooth out where the dough has been joined or if there are any cracks.)
Transfer baking sheets to the refrigerator to chill while you preheat the oven to 350°F.
Place in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes or until the cookies are just starting to brown around the edges. (Because the thickness of the dough can vary and can cook quite fast if rolled thin, start checking them at 12 minutes and watch them carefully, especially if your oven runs hot.)
Remove from oven and let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. They'll firm up as they cool.

Video

Notes

Add an egg wash if needed. You can moisten the dough edges before adding the jam, if necessary. Brushing a very small amount of egg wash over the dough can help it stay together.

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