Anytime Chocolate Hamantaschen

Ever since I laid my eyes on the beautifully photographed picture of these elegant yet seductive nibbles in Chocolate Holidays by the queen of chocolate Alice Medrich I knew I had to try it.  Never heard of hamantaschen before let alone eating or making it so I was very excited planning to offer these at the post-holiday family dinner.  Unfortunately I got caught up in so many unexpected things that I did not get to mixing the dough and cook the filling until way into the New Year; even then a slew of appointments threw me off  course to leave everything in the fridge for several days.  No harm was done though for the dough and the brownie filling are fine and baked perfectly.

How do they taste?  They are wonderful and just the perfect size.  The vanilla is slightly hinted in the wrapper and the filling is a little chewy chocolate-y in every bite.  The cookies are easy to make, taste pretty good and freeze well so it’s definitely a keeper.

Chocolate Hamantaschen

Yield about 25-28 cookies, 3-inch size

Cookie Dough

260 g all-purpose flour (2 Cups)
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
112 g (8 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, soften
1 Cup of sugar ( I used ¾ Cup)
50 g egg ( 1 egg)
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Filling **

112 g unsalted butter (8 Tablespoons)
115 g (4 oz) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used 72% chocolate)
¾ Cup sugar (I used turbinado sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used vanilla paste)
¼ teaspoon salt
2 eggs, cold
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

** I halved the recipe and was able to fill almost all the dough wrappers

Equipment

Cookie sheets, lined with parchment paper
3- inch round cookie cutter

How I do it:

First I make the filling.  Melt the butter with the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl set over a shallow pan of simmering water.   Stir frequently until the mixture is melted and smooth, then turn off the heat.  Stir in the sugar, vanilla, and salt.   Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring in the first until incorporated before adding the second.  Stir in the flour and mix with a spatula until the mixture is smooth and glossy and comes away from the sides of the bowl.  Cover and refrigerate until needed.  (As I mentioned above I left the filling in the fridge for 3 days to no ill-effect)

Second I make the cookie dough, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together and mix thoroughly with a whisk of a fork.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg and vanilla.  Fold in the flour mixture on low-speed just until incorporated.  Form the dough into 2 flat disks.  Wrap and refrigerate the disks at least until firm enough to roll, preferably several hours or overnight.  At this point the dough could be frozen and keep for about a month.  Thaw completely before use.

Remove one of the disk from the refrigerator and let it sit until supple enough to roll but still quite firm (it only takes about 5-7 minutes in a room- temperature kitchen).  It will continue to soften as you work.  Roll the dough between 2 pieces of wax paper to a thickness of 1/8 inch.  When the dough is thin enough, peel off the top sheet of paper  and keep it in front of you.  Invert the dough on that sheet.  Cut cookies as close together as possible, dipping the edges of the cutter in flour as necessary to prevent sticking.  Press dough scraps together and set aside to re-roll with scraps from the second disk.

Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place cookies 1/2 inch apart on the prepared cookie sheets.  Scoop and place 1 level teaspoonful of filling in the center of each cookie.   If the cookies are too soft to handle at this point, put the whole sheet in the fridge for 15-20 minutes or longer.  I find that it is easier to shape it when the cookie dough is firm.

Bring 3 sides of each cookie  up to partially cover the filling.  Pinch the edges of each cookie to seal to the corner.  Bake until pale golden at the edges, rotating the cookie sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking, about 15 minutes.  Repeat until all the cookies are baked.  Slide the parchment liners onto cooking racks.  Cool the cookies completely before stacking or storing.    The recipe says “although best on the day they are made, cookies keep 3 or 4 days in an air tight container”.    I like them the day after as well as frozen ones (only if you like frozen chocolate chip cookies then you know what I am talking about.)

I learn a few things in making these cookies:

• the dough is pretty easy to roll out but gets soften quickly.
• after I roll and cut the cookie dough, I cool them in the fridge for 20 minutes or longer.
• the cool (hence firmed up)  cookies are a breeze to shape.
• the cookie and filling spread enormously so cooling them before bake seems to help its shape.
• I only made half filling recipe for the full dough recipe and it’s almost enough (I used jam as filling for  the last 5 cookies or so)