Classic Hamantaschen Recipe

Name: Classic Hamantaschen
Prep time: 1 h 15 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 32
Cuisine: Jewish
Ingredients: 1 and1/2 sticks sweet unsalted butter; 1 cup sugar; 1 large egg; 1/4 cup orange juice; 1 and1/2 teaspoons vanilla; 3 cups all-purpose flour; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1/2 teaspoon salt; Fillings: Raspberry Jam, Apricot Jam, Prune puree, Nutella, Chocolate spread

March 21, 2024

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This Classic Hamantaschen Recipe creates a soft, yet crumbly cookie, with a luscious jam filling that’s perfect to celebrate Purim.

Food is about so much more than macros and calories in versus calories out. Food is about tradition, memories, and family. One of my core memories from growing up is making this hamantaschen recipe every March for the Jewish holiday of Purim. Now more than ever, I’m proud to share my Jewish heritage and traditions.

Also known as “Jewish Halloween,” kids often dress up to depict characters from the story of how Queen Esther & the King saved the Jews from annihilation by bad guy-Haman (booo). You can read more details about the story here…

These triangle-shaped cookies – called Hamantaschen (ham-an-tash-en) – are a holiday staple.

This Classic Hamantaschen Recipe is…

Easy to make
Soft, yet crumbly
Delicious

The dough for these cookies comes together a bit like a shortbread. They’re sweet, but not overwhelmingly so. And you’ll never guess the secret ingredient that lends an extra pop of flavor.

Ingredients to Make Classic Hamantaschen

You’ll need just 8 ingredients to make this classic hamantaschen recipe, including:

Unsalted butter is used as the fat in these cookies.
Sugar sweetens this dough. This recipe calls for good ol’ white sugar.
Egg helps the dough stay together.
Orange juice adds moisture and super subtle tinge of orange. I guarantee these cookies do not have orange flavor.
Vanilla extract adds additional flavor to the shortbread-like dough.
All-purpose flour is the flour of choice in this cookie recipe. I haven’t tested these with any other flours.
Baking soda is the leavener of choice for this recipe.
Jam is the filling for these cookies. You can use any flavor that you’d like. My personal favorites are raspberry and apricot.

What fillings can you use?

In addition to the traditional raspberry, prune, and apricot fillings, I encourage you to get creative!

You could also try…

Lemon curd (for a tart take)
Nutella
You can even check out all of these variations (thank you Buzz Feed!) from the rest of the blogosphere…I think I need to try the s’more filling with this delicious dough!

Kitchen Tools You’ll Need to Make this Classic Hamantaschen Recipe

You don’t need any crazy tools to make this recipe. You’ll need:

How to Make this Classic Hamantaschen Recipe

I promise that even if you’re not a baker, you can make this hamantaschen recipe.

First, you’ll make the dough.

I make this recipe using an electric hand mixer, but you can also use a stand mixer.

You’ll beat the butter, sugar, egg, vanilla and orange juice together. Then you’ll add the flour, baking soda, and salt.

Next, you’ll wrap the dough well and refrigerate for at least an hour, but overnight is best.

Now it’s time to bake!

Roll out the dough until 1/8-inch thick. Cut out a circle that’s 2 1/2 to 3-inches wide in diameter.

Next, you’ll fill the cookies with about 1-2 teaspoons of filling and pinch the corners into a triangle. Fold the top two sides into a peak at top. Then fold up the bottom to form the triangle.

You’ll bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, or until the bottom is golden brown.