Hamantaschen Cookies

These little cookies are Hamantaschen, a traditional Jewish cookie made for the celebration of Purim. I made them for a book club I hosted for the book, The Ladies Auxiliary. They are yummy little cookies, and remind me of the Finnish Ribbon Cookies I make every year for Christmas (I'm half Finnish, so that's a tradition that helps me remember my roots in Finland). The dough is much like a shortbread dough with a little cream cheese added for tenderness, and then the cookies are filled with jam. I had a hard time keeping the corners sealed - they want to become little cookie disks in the oven. Maybe chilling the formed cookies again and really pinching the corners would help. I got the recipe from Smitten Kitchen, which is an excellent food blog with amazing photography.

Hamantaschen Cookies
-makes about 20-24, 2 inch cookies

8 tablespoons butter, softened
3 oz cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 + 2 tablespoons flour (plus 2 tablespoons for high altitude)
 jam - I used raspberry and apricot

Cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add sugar and mix for 1 minute. Add egg, vanilla, orange zest, and salt and beat until combined. Add the flour and beat. Mixture should come together and be a little sticky. If it feels too wet, add an additional tablespoon of flour.

Form dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour (can hang out in your fridge for a couple days till you are ready to bake).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Roll out chilled dough on a well floured surface to a 1/4 inch thickness. Using a round biscuit cutter (mine was just under 2 1/2 inches), cut the dough into circles. Spoon a little jam (about 1/2 teaspoon) into the middle of the circle and fold up 3 sides to create a triangle. Pinch the corners together really well and give them a little twist. Leave the filling mostly open in the center. Bake on parchment or silpat lined cookie sheets until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Cook on wire racks. Store in an airtight container.