Cream Cheese Hamantaschen Recipes

CREAM CHEESE HAMANTASCHEN DOUGH

Steps:

• 1 To make the dough: Place the sugar
• 2 butter or shortening and cream cheese in a large mixing bowl
• 3 Add the vanilla, salt and flour, and stir to make a soft dough, adding a little flour if the dough is too sticky to handle
• 4 (The dough may also be made in a food processor
• 5 Place the flour in the work bowl
• 6 Add the butter or shortening and cream cheese in chunks along with the vanilla and salt
• 7 Process until the dough forms a ball
• 8 Remove from the processor bowl and sprinkle on a little flour to make handling the dough easier
• 9 Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes or overnight
• 10 )
• 11 Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees
• 12 Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
• 13 While the oven is heating, make the egg wash: Combine the egg, egg yolk, sugar and water in a small bowl and whisk to combine thoroughly
• 14 Set aside
• 15 To assemble the hamantaschen: Roll out the dough on a well-floured board, being careful not to press too firmly; the dough will be a little fragile
• 16 Cut into 3-inch rounds and brush with egg wash
• 17 Scraps can be rerolled once
• 18 Place a generous teaspoonful of filling in the center of each round
• 19 Fold over the edge of the circle in three sections to form a triangle and pinch the corners closed
• 20 There should be a lip of dough around the outside, but some filling should be left exposed in the center
• 21 Brush the exposed dough with egg wash again and, if desired, sprinkle with regular or coarse sugar
• 22 Transfer the triangles to the baking sheet
• 23 Bake for about 18 to 22 minutes, until golden brown

CREAM CHEESE HAMANTASCHEN

Steps:

• In a bowl with a pastry blender or in a food processor blend or pulse flour, sugar, and salt to combine and add butter and cream cheese, blending or pulsing until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a small bowl stir together yolk and vanilla and add to flour mixture, blending or pulsing just until mixture begins to come together (do not overmix). Gather dough into a ball and flatten into a disk. Chill dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.
• Preheat oven to 375° F.
• Halve dough. On a lightly floured cool surface knead half of dough (keeping other half wrapped and chilled) 2 or 3 times to make it less crumbly. Roll out dough 1/4 inch thick and with a 3-inch cutter cut out as many rounds as possible. Transfer rounds with a metal spatula to a large baking sheet, arranging about 1/2 inch apart. Reroll scraps and cut out more rounds. Put 1 teaspoon filling in center of each round and fold up edges to form triangular cookies resembling a tricornered hat, pinching corners together and leaving filling exposed. (Pinch dough tightly enough so seams are no longer visible and sides are taut enough to prevent cookies from leaking filling as they bake.)
• Bake hamantaschen in middle of oven 20 minutes, or until pale golden. Cool hamantaschen on baking sheet 5 minutes and transfer to racks to cool completely. Make more hamantaschen with remaining dough and filling in same manner. Hamantaschen keep in an airtight container at room temperature 5 days.

ALL-THE-SEEDS HAMANTASCHEN

Steps:

• Dough
• Whisk baking powder, salt, and 1½ cups (188 g) flour in a medium bowl to combine. Set aside. Beat butter, cream cheese, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-high until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add egg and orange zest and beat, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, just until combined. Reduce speed to low and with motor running, gradually add dry ingredients. Beat until dough comes together and no streaks of dry flour remain.
• Divide dough in half and place each half on a piece of beeswax or plastic wrap. Pat into a 1"-thick disk. Wrap tightly and chill until firm, at least 2 hours and up to 12 hours.
• Filling
• Preheat oven to 325°F. Mix pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, ¼ cup poppy seeds, and ¼ cup sesame seeds in a medium heatproof bowl. Heat honey in a small saucepan over medium, stirring occasionally with a heatproof rubber spatula, until it bubbles and foams and turns dark amber (an instant read thermometer should register 300°F), about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in tahini and ¾ tsp. salt. Pour over seeds and stir to coat. Let cool slightly (you want the mixture to be as hot as possible since it hardens as it cools, but not so hot you could burn your hands). Working quickly, scoop out heaping teaspoonfuls of filling and roll into 24 balls.
• Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to a scant ¼" thick. Punch out cookies with cutter. Transfer to 2 parchment-lined baking sheets. (You should ideally have 12 cookies per baking sheet.) They won't spread, so don't worry about getting them close. Gather up and reroll any scraps.
• Beat egg with 1 Tbsp. water and a pinch of salt in a small bowl. Working one at a time, brush rounds with egg wash and place a ball of filling in the center. Fold sides of dough up to make a triangle, pinching corners to seal. Brush sides of dough with egg wash and sprinkle with more sesame seeds and poppy seeds.
• Bake hamantaschen, rotating pans top to bottom and front to back halfway through, until crust is golden brown and filling is puffed, 18-22 minutes. Let cool on baking sheets.
• Do ahead: Cookies can be baked 3 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.

CLASSIC HAMANTASCHEN

Steps:

• In large bowl or bowl of stand mixer, beat butter and cream cheese until blended. Add egg yolk, vanilla, almond extract and salt; beat well. Gradually add flour, beating until well combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap; refrigerate 2 hours.
• Heat oven to 400°F. Line cookie sheets with cooking parchment paper.
• Dust work surface with powdered sugar. Working with half of the dough at a time (keep remaining half refrigerated), roll out dough with rolling pin. With 3-inch cookie cutter, cut out rounds. Spoon 2 teaspoons jam in center of each. Moisten edges of dough rounds with water; pinch each into 3-cornered shape. Place on cookie sheets.
• Bake 9 to 12 minutes or until edges are slightly brown. Cool completely on cooling racks. Dust with powdered sugar.

EASY HAMANTASCHEN

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
• In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until lightly and fluffy. Stir in the oil, vanilla and orange juice. Combine the flour and baking powder; stir into the batter to form a stiff dough. If dough is not stiff enough to roll out, stir in more flour. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out to 1/4 inch in thickness. Cut into circles using a cookie cutter or the rim or a drinking glass. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. Spoon about 2 teaspoons of preserves into the center of each one. Pinch the edges to form three corners.
• Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly browned. Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheet before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

SWEET DANISH HAMANTASCHEN WITH CREAM CHEESE FILLING & POPPYS

Steps:

• To Prepare Filling: Beat together cream cheese, honey and sugar. Add egg, vanilla, salt, and orange zest. Mix until cohesive.
• To Prepare Poppy Seed Streusel: Beat all ingredients on low speed until the mixture crumbles. Refrigerate until ready to use.
• To Prepare Dough: In a mixing bowl combine all dry ingredients. Add cold, cubed butter with paddle attachment. Mix on low speed for about 3 minutes or until mixture resembles cornmeal. Add all wet ingredients and mix on medium speed for about 2 minutes, until dough forms a batter.
• Cover with plastic wrap and let set in a refrigerator overnight. After 24 hours remove dough from bowl and place on a well-floured surface. Flour the top of the dough and roll into a 12X4" rectangle. With the rectangle horizontal to you fold the right third of the dough over the left creating a letter fold. Wrap in plastic wrap and return to refrigerator to rest for 30 minutes. Repeat the letter fold technique two more times (alternating left, then right).After the third turn is complete let rest in refrigerator for 30 more minutes. Remove dough from refrigerator and place dough on well-floured surface and roll out to 1/4" thick, keeping it as close to a square as possible.
• Cut the Danish into 3" squares and place about 1 tablespoon of filling (filling recipe below) into the center of the square. Sprinkle the streusel (streusel recipe below) on top and bring corners into the center forming a pouch.
• Preheat oven to 350°F
• Brush dough with egg whites and sprinkle with more streusel. Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool and dust with powder sugar.

HAMANTASCHEN

Steps:

• Let butter and cream soften at room temperature. Cream them together until thoroughly blended; beat in sour cream.
• Stir in salt, sugar and the egg.
• Gradually beat in flour, adding just enough to make a dough that will stick together. Form a ball, wrap in waxed paper and chill overnight.
• Before rolling out dough, prepare filling by blending prune jam with remaining ingredients. Set aside.
• Divide dough in half; place one half in the refrigerator while you roll the first. Place a sheet of waxed paper on the counter top or pastry board and place the first half of the dough on it. Top with a second sheet of waxed paper. Using a rolling pin, roll dough between sheets of waxed paper, turning the dough over with the paper so it is rolled on both sides and lifting the sheets of paper between every two or three rollings. Dough should be about 1/8-inch thick.
• Roll the second half of the dough in the same way.
• Using a 3 1/2- to 4-inch round cookie cutter, cut circles from the rolled out dough. Place a well-rounded teaspoon of prune filling in the center of each circle.
• Moisten the edges of each circle with a little cold water and shape triangles; be sure to pinch the three corner seams tightly closed.
• Arrange hamantaschen on cookie sheets and place in refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour before baking.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake hamantaschen for about 15 minutes or until bottoms and tops are golden brown.