DOUBLE CHOCOLATE + RASPBERRY HAMENTASHEN

Hamentashen are a traditional three-cornered cookie we (Jews) make on Purim! For a more traditional soft vanilla sugar cookie hamentashen, see my regular recipe HERE  though I must say “traditional” in my mind means crumbly cookies, whereas my recipe is soft. For these double chocolate hamentashen, I wanted to experiment with flavor. The dough is still pretty soft, bittersweet, and the filling has a brownie flavor- almost pudding-like. The combination bite together is not too sweet- just right. I like a little raspberry jam in there too for a sweeter flavor. Sprinkle a little fleur de sel on top right before you bake them for a more in depth flavor.

 

IMPORTATANT NOTES:
  1. I know it’s annoying, but you should chill the dough, either the night before or at least for a couple hours in the fridge. Divide the dough in quarters and wrap each in saran wrap. No need to make them into disks. The dough is super soft but keeps it’s shape. Stack them together and wrap in foil to avoid any odor contamination in your fridge.
  2. Before baking, you MUST chill the cookies about 10-20 minutes. They’ll keep their shape that way! So this means after you add the filling, pinch into triangles, coat with sugar, then you MUST chill them in the freezer until they’re cold to the touch, and THEN you can bake them.
  3. Don’t overfill the cookies or have the topping be runny. I used a heaping 1 teaspoon of filling with a 3.5″ round cutter.
  4. If you’re using a bigger circle cookie cutter, you can add more filling and bake for about 12 minutes instead of 10.

 

CHOCOLATE FILLING:

Filling can be made up to a week ahead and stored, covered, in the fridge.

 

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 6 oz heavy cream or half-and-half
  • Pinch kosher salt
  • 6 ounces extra bittersweet chocolate, preferably between 66 and 74 percent cocoa, coarsely chopped OR Ghiradelli 60% dark chocolate chips work perfectly. If you don’t have a scale, that’s a little less than 1/2 a cup.
  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

 

Instructions

  1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, cream and salt. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until sugar completely dissolves, about 5 minutes.
  2. In a separate small container, add chocolate, butter and vanilla.
  3. Pour the sugar mixture into the chocolate container and mix until smooth.
  4. Let cool to room temperature. It should be the consistency of thick pudding. If you made it ahead, you can scoop it into the cookie dough straight out of the fridge.

 

CHOCOLATE DOUGH:

Ingredients

  • 1 c. margarine, room temp
  • 2 tbsp butter, room temp
  • 1 1/4 c. granulated sugar
  • 1 egg, room temp
  • 2 tbsp whole milk, room temp (you can use half and half)
  • 2 tsp real vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 c. flour (I always bake with bread flour)
  • 1/2 cup good cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. salt

extra granulated sugar and sea salt to sprinkle on top

Raspberry jam (Optional! You can keep it chocolate chocolate too)

round cookie cutter – any size, but I used 3.5″ round. Anywhere from 3″ to 4″ is typical.

 

Instructions

  1. Sift all dry ingredients and set aside.
  2. Mix butter and sugar til fluffy 2-3 min.
  3. Add egg and mix well.
  4. Add vanilla.
  5. Slowly mix in dry ingredients alternating with milk.
  6. Mix until just combined.
  7. Divide the dough into four parts, plop each down on Saran Wrap and wrap each tightly. Stack them up and wrap them all in foil. Chill in the refrigerator overnight or at least stick them in your freezer for a couple hours.
  8. Take one disc out of the fridge and roll out on a lightly floured board, 1/8″ – 1/4″ thick.
  9. Cut circles and place on a parchment paper-lined tray.
  10. Fill each circle with 1/2 tsp raspberry jam and spread around a bit, leaving a good border of dough. Add a heaping 1 tsp of chocolate filling for a 3″ – 3.5″ round cookie. The larger you make the circles, the more filling you can use and the longer they bake. Just make sure you can pinch the corners around the filling.
  11. Form triangles and pinch the corners together slightly to make sure they don’t fall apart and spill all the filling.
  12. Sprinkle the triangles generously with granulated sugar and a touch of sea salt.
  13. Chill in the freezer completely while you work on the next tray for 20 minutes or so. The longer they’re chilled, the more they will keep their shape. If you’re making way in advance, just keep them covered in the fridge.
  14. Bake at 350 degrees for just 10 minutes. The whole point is to keep these SOFT so don’t over-bake them. Cool on the tray for a minute or two only, then slip the cookies still on the parchment paper off the tray to cool completely.

Happy Purim!

xo

Leah