Better-Than-Best Hamentashen from Naomi Howland's book

By umichlawguy

Better-Than-Best Hamentashen from Naomi Howland's book

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 4 tablespoons milk
• 4 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• rind of one orange, grated
• poppy-seed paste, apricot jam, or raspberry jam for fllling

Details

Servings 72

Preparation

Step 1

1. With an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar together until the mixture is light and fluffy.
2. Beat eggs, milk, flour, baking powder, vanilla, and orange rind into the butter and sugar mixture.
3. Wrap the dough in waxed paper and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
5. Divide the dough in two. Return half the dough to the refrigerator, wrapped in waxed paper. Roll out the remaining dough about 1/8-inch thick on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Dust the dough with more flour as needed to keep it from sticking to the rolling pin.
6. Flour the edge of a 2 1/2- or 3-inch round cookie cutter or the open end of a glass, and cut out circles of dough. Gather the scraps and re-roll them to cut out more circles.
7. Drop 1/2 teaspoon of filling onto each circle of dough. Brush a little water around the edges of the dough. Fold the edges over on three sides to form a triangle, keeping the filling inside. Gently pinch the corners.
8. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place the cookies on the baking sheet, leaving an inch or so between them.
9. Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack until the cookies have cooled.

Makes approximately 6 dozen cookies. This recipe can be cut in half.