March 22, 2016

Savory Hamantaschen with Dry Tomatoes Cream Cheese filling



Savory Hamantaschen with Dry tomatoes Cream Cheese filling

I used a savory dough for hamantaschen from "Modern Jewish cooking" by Leah Koenig. Dough is quite unique: it keeps shape, it stays fresh for several days, and it's good for sweet and savory filling. Moreover, I plan to bake salty cookies for wine and beer using this dough. Highly recommend! I have already tweaked the original  recipe.

Makes 30-36 hamantaschen


Dough:
2 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
12 cups sugar
2 eggs

Filling ( my recipe)
6 oz dry tomatoes (not in oil)
6 tablespoons cream cheese
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons brown sugar
6 teaspoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Egg wash:
1 egg slightly beaten
Sesame seeds for sprinkling

To make filling, place everything in food processor and process until everything will come together. It takes 1-2 minutes. My filling was a little bit crumbly.
To make dough, whisk together the flour, baking powder, pepper, and salt in a medium bowl. IN a large bowl, whisk together the water, vegetable oil, sugar, and eggs until combined. Slowly stir in the flour mixture, mixing until the dough begins to come together. Turn the dough out onto a flat surface and knead a few times with your hands until it  is smooth, but not sticky (If dough is dry, add a couple teaspoons of water. if it looks wet, knead in up to 1/4 cup more flour.)

Gather the dough, then divide it in half with a knife and form 2 flat disks. Wrap each disk tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove one disk from the refrigerator. Divide dough onto smaller pieces and knead each piece in your warm hands. Dough will be enough good to roll out to 1/4  inch thickness. Use 3-in round cookie cutter or glass to cut out as many circles as possible and place 1 teaspoon of filling into the center of each dough circle. Fold like hamantaschen. Pinch the seams firmly to seal.  Gather the dough scrapes, re-roll, cut out additional circles. Repeat the process with remaining dough and filling. . Brush the hamantaschen with the egg wash and sprinkle  with sesame seeds.


Bake until golden and browned, around 15-18 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Store in airtight container up to 3 days.


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