Chocolate Peanut butter Hamantaschen

Purim is around the corner!  That is hard to believe since there is still so much snow on the ground.  I took advantage of this snow day and started baking.

Every year I try a new recipe for hamantaschen.  Some are cake-y, others dough-y, and others are more similar to a cookie dough.  They each have their loyal followers.  This recipe creates a delicate and crunchy cookie.  It is sweet, but it is not overly sweet, so it doesn't take away from your filling.  First, I made a classic hamantaschen with a peach filling.  Use whichever flavor you like the best.  [A little tip:  don't use jelly.  It gets very runny when baked.  Instead use pie filling or make your own.]

After I made the peach hamantaschen, I decided to shake things up a little.  I added cocoa powder to dough and filled the hamantaschen with peanut butter!  Even Haman would like these!

Hamantaschen Dough

Ingredients:

2 eggs

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup canola oil

1 tsp orange zest

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

* ( 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder) *

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Whisk to combine eggs, sugar, oil, zest and vanilla in large bowl.  In separate bowl, sift all dry ingredients.  Slowly add dry ingredients to wet and mix.  Knead at the end to fully combine dough.  Lightly flour a clean dry surface and roll out dough.  You might need to add a little extra flour or a little extra water to ensure the dough is the correct consistency.  It should be moist, but not sticky.  Use a 3 inch round cookie cutter or glass to cut out cookies.  Fill with no more than a teaspoon of filling, fold up sides to create a triangle.  Bake for 18 - 20 minutes.

* Directions for Chocolate dough *

Add the cocoa powder to the dry ingredients and prepare as mentioned above.  When rolling the dough out, use a mixture of flour and extra cocoa powder.  Fill the circles with no more than 1 teaspoon of peanut butter (or filling of choice).  Fold, bake and enjoy!