Purim is right around the corner (that’s the Jewish Halloween if you wasn’t sure what Purim is) and that makes it perfectly perfect to bake some sweet goodies. You see, the tradition on Purim is to give friends and family the gift of sweet 🙂 and that is why kids and adults alike usually participate in a sort of cookie/ sweet exchange where we all get to get and give boxes or goodie bags filled with candy, chocolates and most baked goods.
One of the most recognized cookie with this holiday is the Hamentashen. A delightful triangle cookie, made from buttery (sometimes more sometimes less) dough and filled with your choice of filling. The most traditional fillings are jam and poppy seeds.
I’m a poppy seed lover myself but this time I decided to make something special, and so my quest began.
I researched every single recipe I could find to learn about the proportion of ingredients used to make these yummy cookies. Then I started customizing based on what I wanted to get which is a melt in your mouth butter cookie with a sweet but not too much, filling that is made of ingredients we all love.
Chocolate is something I knew I want and the melting effect in my mouth, so I went for the most natural ingredients that combined perfectly with chocolate – coconut! Which basically will make this a Bounty Bar inspired cookie.
Adding the cornstarch to the flour, upping the amount of butter and using whipping cream instead of an egg are only some of the tweaks I had to make to create the perfect texture I was looking for.
And so, a couple hours later I found myself eating a Bounty Bar Hamentashen – not really patient here 🙂
These came out buttery and sweet and the coconut stands out but mixes just right with the chocolate.
4 things to keep in mind when making theses are:
- Do not overfill your triangles because it’ll cause them to open up while baking.
- Pinch your triangle’s corner really well so they don’t open.
- Cool the pre-baked cookies before you place in the oven. This will allow to the dough to set a bit and will prevent it from opening or expanding too much when you bake.
- Let the cookies cool completely before serving (the cookie needs to harden when its out of the oven)
Other than that, you should be just fine. You are going to love these, just make sure you pace yourself when you eat them, they are a bit addicting 🙂
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Ingredients
160gr All Purpose Flour
40gr Cornstarch
10gr Cocoa Powder
100gr Suger
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
150gr Unsalted Butter
60ml Whipping Cream (1/4 cup)
Semi sweet chocolate chips
- Coconut Filling
90gr Shredded Unsweetened Coconut
1/2 Cup Milk
50gr Unsalted Butter
80gr Sugar
Prepare The Coconut Filling
- Place all the ingredients in a medium pan over medium heat, mix together and bring to boil
- Stir consistently for about 5 minutes or until all liquids evaporate and you get a coconut mix
- Remove from heat and cool completely
PREPARE THE DOUGH
- Place the butter and sugar in a stand mixer bowl and using the whisk attachment, whisk together until they combine
- Switch to the mixing/ dough hook attachment and add in the rest of the ingredients except for the whipping cream
- Start mixing on low speed and gradually add in the whipping cream. Set to a slightly higher speed and mix until it all combines into a dough ball
Assemble the cookies
- Preheat oven to 180C (375F) and prepare a baking sheet layered with parchment paper
- Flour your work surface and place the dough. Make sure you also sprinkle the dough ball with flour to prevent sticking to the rolling pin. Using a rolling pin roll out the dough until it is about 1/8 of an inch thick. Make sure to move the dough a bit every now and then and add flour to the surface if needed. This will prevent it from sticking to your surface
- Using a round cookie cutter score circles of dough and on each circle place about 1/2 teaspoon of the coconut filling and 2-3 chocolate chips
- Pinch the circle on the sides to create a triangle that’s “holding” the filling in the middle of the circle
- Place on your baking sheet and place in the fridge or a cool place for about 10-15 minutes to allow the dough to cool a bit
- Place in the oven and bake for 10-14 minutes until you see the triangle corners brown a tiny bit
- Remove from the oven and let it cool completely before serving or moving into a sealed container
