Baking cookies is one of the warmest, most comforting rituals of the winter season. If you and your child are looking for new recipes or ways to celebrate Hanukkah this year, try baking these traditional, jam-filled buttery cookies. Encourage your child to use her favorite flavors for the filling—from a traditional poppy seed mixture to apricot jam, or even creamy Nutella or chocolate! Hamantaschen are named and shaped for the three-cornered hat worn by Haman, and they’re traditionally made during springtime for the Jewish holiday of Purim—but they’ll also make a fun and colorful addition to your home during the winter season.
What You Need:
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 sticks butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp orange zest
(the grated outer rind)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 cups for the center filling: apricot jam, nutella, or thick compotes work well
What You Do:
- In one mixing bowl, have your child stir together flour and salt and set the mixture aside.
- Ask you child to use an electric mixer to beat the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy.
- Have your child help mix one egg, orange zest, and vanilla into the butter and sugar until they are well mixed.
- Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar and mix them carefully together, until the dough appears crumbly.
- Have your child mix the dough with her hands to form it into a smooth ball. Show your child how to use plastic wrap to cover the dough; refrigerate it for two to eight hours, or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 375° F.
- Beat the remaining egg until it is properly mixed in a small bowl—your child will be brushing the cookies with it.
- Have your child take out a large cutting board, or put a large piece of parchment paper over the counter, and sprinkle flour across the workspace where she will be rolling out the dough.
- Ask your child to remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide it into four pieces so it’s easier to work with.
- Use a rolling pin to flatten the first ball of dough to a thickness of about 1/4-inch or even smaller. She can use a cookie cutter, or the top of a drinking glass to cut out round circles.
- Ask your child to transfer the cookie shapes to a cookie sheet with about an inch of space between them. Place a teaspoonful of her preferred filling onto the center of each cookie.
- Help your child pinch together three sides of each filled cookie into a triangular shape. The filling should hold together in this shape, yet still be exposed on top. It may help your child to moisten the surface of the dough to work with it easier.
- Once they are filled, your child can use a pastry brush to carefully brush the beaten egg mixture over each cookie.
- Bake the cookies at 375° F for about 20-25 minutes until they’re golden in color. While the first batch bakes, continue cutting, filling, and brushing the remaining dough until all the cookies are finished!
- Let the cookies cool before eating them—the filling will take more time to cool than the dough!
The recipe yields 20-30 cookies
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