Friends. I’m going to be real honest with you. Every year there are unspoken latke and hamantaschen ‘wars’ between Jewish/Kosher food bloggers. And yes, I have fallen victim to these ‘wars’ ever since starting this blog. I’ve tried to create the next great latke or the next great hamantaschen. I’ve spent hours carefully crafting, photographing and editing posts int he name of this ‘competition’. It was kinda fun, but mostly exhausting. This year, however, I just wanted to make some cookies with my kiddo for no other reason then it’s fun and we like cookies. Plus, this year there are some AMAZING hamantaschen out there like this one and this one. Oh, and THIS one! The savory ones are really having a moment. It’s awesome. So, in the name of the kiddo’s latest obsession, pixie dust, we made these guys. They are tasty and they have TONS of sprinkles on them, but they aren’t the prettiest hamantaschen I’ve ever made.
I’m not quite sure what started her new obsession with pixie dust but it is deep and it is real. We even made pixie dust necklaces one Sunday, which was just a little bit of pink sand in a tiny glass bottle ona sparkle lanyard. It’s funny the obsessions that preschool-aged children have and how they come to be. Be it wanting to wear the same shirt every day or watch the same episode of Jake and the Neverland Pirates or wanting the same book every. single. night, there is a comfort in the familiar for this age. I work very hard on being mindful of just how much newness she’s encountered with on a daily basis being on 3 years old. It’s hard as a parent; you get so sick of all the redundancy. But they need the familiarity of it all. They’re little brains are taking in so much newness that the safety they find in the familiar is an easy and necessary comfort. And so, armed with every ounce of pink sprinkles and edible sprinkle hearts we had in the cupboard, we set out to make ‘pixie dust’ hamantaschen (which I later decided would need a name change for fear that if I advertised a recipe for ‘pixie dust hamantaschen’, I might get some seriously confused readers looking for a different kind of cookie, ifyouknowwhatimean). #saynotodrugs.
Cooking with my ladies.
Our pixie dust necklace — 1 tiny glass jar + pink sand + super glue + shimmery gold lanyard string.
My assistant being extremely intentional with every. single. sprinkle.
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 3 ounces whipped cream cheese at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 1/3 cups plus 4 teaspoons flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Stawberry Jam
- *Sprinkles Optional
- For Chocolate Dipping:
- 8 ounces dark chocolate chunks
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 3 tablespoons coarse sea salt
Instructions
- Cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth.
- Add sugar and mix for one minute longer, then egg, vanilla extract, lemon zest and salt, mixing until combined.
- Finally, add the flour. The mixture should come together and be a tad sticky. If it feels too wet, add an additional tablespoon of flour.
- Form dough into a disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- To form the hamantaschen, roll out the dough on a well-floured surface until it is about 1/4-inch thick. Using a round cookie cutter or wide-rimmed glass, which is what I use, (cut the dough into circles. Spoon a teaspoon of you filling of choice in the center.
- Fold the dough in from three sides and firmly crimp the corners and give them a little twist to ensure they stay closed.
- Leave the filling mostly open in the center. Bake on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Cool on racks.
- For Chocolate Dipping:
- Melt chocolate and coconut oil in a double boiler or in the microwave. Stir until completely smooth and combined.
- Place in a small but deep bowl for dipping. Dip the cookies halfway into the melted chocolate. Place on a parchment lined tray. Sprinkle with a bit of sea salt. Place in the refrigerator to harden the chocolate.
