Trans-Fat Free Hamantaschen
That means no marg at all!
I must admit that although hamantaschen are relatively simple, it took me quite a few recipes until I finally found one that I really like a lot and that always works. These are just great; watch out if you make them in advance (as I do)… even freezing them doesn’t ensure they won’t be gobbled down. You may have to label the packages as spinach patties or something of the sort so that they don’t all get eaten beforehand…
Ingredients
4 eggs
1 cup oil
1 & 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 teaspoons baking powder
Small pinch salt
5 & 1/2 cups flour
Method
Mix all ingredients except for the flour. I can’t stress that enough – DO NOT add the flour until the last step. Otherwise, the dough will not work.
Add the flour gradually until it is all mixed in and the batter resembles a smooth dough. If the dough sticks to your palm, then add a bit more flour until it is workable. It should be smooth and soft and very easy to work with.
Now you can gather everyone around and put them to work… The key to perfect looking hamantaschen, as you see in the pictures here, is to cut out circles with a cookie cutter for each one. This makes your edges symmetrical and perfect looking so that each cookie comes out smooth and uniform in appearance. However, even if you don’t have a cutter, they still come out nicely by just pulling off pieces of dough, rolling them into balls, and flattening them down on your working surface before filling them. To keep the balls of dough from sticking to the table, I line my work surface with a plastic bag that I cut open to form a large square and I tape down the edges to my table. I do the same for each child “helping” me and this way, nothing sticks to the table. Saves a lot on frustration levels…
Now comes creativity time. Traditionally, hamantaschen are filled with poppy seeds…however, you can also fill them with all sorts of fun and colorful ideas. There is strawberry jam, apricot jam, blueberry pie filling, pareve caramel filling, a mixture of white and black chocolate chips…you can even top some of your jam filled ones with colored sprinkles, which will really give them a joyful appearance! Fill them in their centers with the fillings of your choice and simply pinch then together on one side, and then the other.
Perfect every time!
