Best Ever Hamantaschen Dough

I don't know about all of you, but for years Purim time came along, and I made Hamantaschen - they look gorgeous when I folded them up, but after some time in the oven, the dough expands, the corners open, and I am left with a triangle-like shape with some kind of delicious filling spilling out. This is frustrating to say the least, and to make matters worse, once you have little ones at home it becomes disappointing for them when their cookies are ruined. Little did they know, all of the "ruined" cookies get to be sampled hot off the baking sheet . . . so how bad can it actually be? But moving on... I set out to search for the perfect dough recipe. One year while living in South Africa I made incredible Hamantaschen (which stayed in perfect shape). I used a shortbread cookie dough recipe, and placed a square of heavenly South African Cadbury chocolate inside, and they were perfection. I will have to find that dough recipe again and try it (although I no longer have access to my favorite chocolate bars).

Since then, I have made a few different traditional dough recipes, but none were THE recipe. When I moved back to America, a friend of mine posted some awesome photos of her Hamantaschen and I had to ask for the dough recipe. This recipe comes from a Cleveland communal cookbook titled Sprinkled With Memories. The recipe is a classic, and it came out beautifully!

The trick with this recipe (in my opinion) is in the butter. Nothing can really replace real butter. So, while I have made these parev, and you can swap out the butter for margarine, and the milk for soy milk, I suggest making the real deal. They are worth it!

Hamantaschen

3/4 C sugar

1/2 C butter or margarine

1 egg

2 tbsp. milk or soy milk (delicious with vanilla or pumpkin flavored soy milk!)*

1 tsp vanilla

2 C flour

2 tsp baking powder

*If you are making the parev version, be sure to refrigerate the dough first. (See below).

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F

In a food processor, mix sugar and butter

Add egg, milk, and vanilla

Add flour and baking powder and process

If sticky, refrigerate for one hour

Roll dough to 1/8 inch thick

Cut with 3 inch round cookie cutter (or the top of a drinking glass)

Pinch dough over filling to form a triangle

Tip: fold two sides in, then third and pinch at the ends where the corner meet ONLY on top

Bake at 350 for 16-18 minutes on un greased cookie sheets

Cool on rack

Makes approximately 30