Israeli hamantaschen have a delicate and crumbly crust. And here they are filled with dates and walnuts. The main difference between the Israeli and American hamantaschen is the dough. While Americans make hamantaschen with cookie dough, Israeli make theirs with a type of Pâté sucrée, that’s crumbly, buttery and rich.
Date and walnut hamantaschen
Course: Cakes and cookiesCuisine: Israeli, JewishDifficulty: Medium30
Hamantaschen30
minutes15
minutes45
minutesIsraeli hamantaschen have a delicate and crumbly crust. And here they are filled with dates and walnuts. The main difference between the Israeli and American hamantaschen is the dough. While Americans make hamantaschen with cookie dough, Israeli make theirs with a type of Pâté sucrée, that’s crumbly, buttery and rich.
Date spread is available at Kosher and Israeli supermarkets. Alternatively, you can use dates and boiling water, as directed in the recipe below.
INGREDIENTS
2¾ cups (400 grams, 14 oz.) all purpose flour
1 cup (115 grams, 4 oz.) powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon Kosher salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
¼ cup finely chopped walnut
- For the filling
8 oz. Pitted medjool dates (or date spread, see the note above)
½ cup boiling water
¼ cup finely chopped walnut
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cardamom
¼ cup apricot jam or chocolate (or Nutella) spread (optional)
DIRECTIONS
- Make the filling: Put dates and boiling water in the bowl of a food processor and let stand for 5 minutes. Mix in the food processor until you get a smooth paste. Transfer date paste to a bowl, mix in walnut and spices and set aside. If you’re using date spread, just mix it with walnut and spices.
- To make the dough, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a food processor. Pulse to create crumbs. Add egg and egg yolk and pulse just until the dough begins to clump together. Add 1 tablespoon of water if dough does not clump together. Turn the dough out onto a large bowl, knead shortly, gather into a ball, divide into two and flatten to 2 disks. If the dough seems too soft to roll and handle, put it in the fridge in a bowl for 15 minutes or until it feels firm enough.
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Have a 2¾-inch cookie cutter at hand and 2 more large pieces of parchment paper.
- Put first half-portion of dough on the on a parchment paper, top with another paper and roll with a rolling pin to a rectangle (about ⅛” thin).
- Remove the top parchment paper, sprinkle half the walnuts on the dough and use your hand to press them slightly into the dough.
- Cover with the parchment paper again, then flip the dough, so the walnuts are now at the bottom. Remove the top parchment paper.
- Use the cookie cutter to cut out circles of dough. Reroll the dough as needed.
- Spread very little jam (if using) at the center of each circle. Use a teaspoon to mound a small amount of the filling on top. Lift and pinch the edges of each circle in 3 places spaced evenly apart, to create a triangle; the filling will be partially exposed in the center. Arrange on the baking sheet, spacing them an inch apart.
- Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. In the meantime, put baking sheets in the fridge for 15 minutes.
- Bake one sheet at a time for 12-15 minutes or until the pastries are just turning light-golden on the edges.
- Transfer the pastries to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
