These cookies are traditionally served at Purim - the Feast of Esther. Yet another, "They tried to kill us, we survived, let's eat," holiday on the Jewish calendar. Purim has the distinction of being the one time when getting completely drunk is part of the program (you should be so drunk, you can't tell Haman [villain] from Mordecai [hero]) - hopefully, after you've finished making the hamentaschen. They're quite labor-intensive, but really worth it. When the kids were young, I never got a full yield of the cookies since the dough is so tasty. They also liked coming up with other shapes (squares, stars, etc) - some more successful than others, but no matter what they looked like, they were all tasty.
Prep Time2 hourshrs
Cook Time40 minutesmins
Chilling2 hourshrs
Total Time4 hourshrs40 minutesmins
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Jewish
Keyword: cookie, holiday, jewish, Purim
Servings: 36cookies
Equipment
Stand Mixer with flat paddle beater
2" round Cookie cutter
Rolling Pin
Baking sheets
Silicone baking sheet liner or parchment paper
Ingredients
3/4cupsugar
2cupfloursifted
1/4tspsalt
2tspbaking powder
1/2cupvegetable shorteningbutter flavor, cut into 4 pieces
1largeeggbeaten
2tbsporange juice concentratethawed
1canSolo fruit filling
Instructions
Make the dough
Combine sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat paddle beater. Mix briefly on low speed to thoroughly combine.
Add the shortening and incorporate on low speed until mixture looks sandy and uniform. Whisk the orange juice and egg together in a small bowl; add to flour mixture. Mix on low until the dough comes together - just a minute or so. If the dough seems too dry, add more orange juice 1 tbsp at a time until it's cohesive but not at all sticky. Pat the dough into a 6 inch circle and wrap in plastic. Chill dough in fridge at least two hours (preferably overnight).
Roll and fill
Working with half the dough at a time (keep the other half wrapped in the fridge), roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to between 1/4" and 1/8" thick. Cut with a 2" round cookie cutter. Place a scant tsp of fruit in the middle of each circle. Pinch three edges of the dough together to form triangles, leaving an opening for filling to show in the center.
Bake
Place filled cookies on a silicone or parchment-lined baking sheet, about 1.5" apart. Let cookies rest 20 minutes.
Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly browned on top.
Notes
This recipe is from my parents' Molly Goldberg Jewish Cookbook that was in the house when i was growing up.For shortening, I like to use butter flavored Crisco sticks, but any will work. Regular butter won't work in this recipe - the dough will be too soft, the cookies will spread too much and it will be a general mess... If you can't find canned Solo fruit filling, don't substitute pie filling. The Solo filling is thicker and pie filling will be too chunky and gooey. You can substitute good quality all fruit spread or jam. Don't overfill the cookies or they may collapse in the oven. It may look like you're being too skimpy, but trust me - the filling will distribute nicely once baked. Our favorite filling is apricot but Solo also comes in prune and poppyseed, which are also traditional flavors. I sometimes use blackberry or blueberry jam as well, but everyone seems to like apricot the best.The cookies can burn quickly so watch them carefully. If you use a convection setting, they will bake in closer to 8 minutes per batch. If you don't have parchment paper or silicon sheets, you can grease your baking sheet but they may stick or overbrown on the bottoms.