Espresso Shortbread Hamantaschen with Nutella Filling
Purim celebrates the story told in the Book of Esther. It is a story of Queen Esther and her cousin Mordecai defeating the evil Haman who wanted to destroy the Jews. As is usually the case for Jewish holidays, food plays a large role, filled with symbolism.
Hamantaschen, a triangle shaped cookie with filling in the center, are a wonderful example of this. There are several interpretations of the symbolism of hamantaschen. The one that I have always heard is that Haman always wore a triangular hat. When we eat our cookies, it is as if we are destroying Haman.
There are many kinds of hamantaschen. Traditionally, they were all made with a firm crust and filled with either poppyseed or prune filling. Now, I am all for one or two of these traditionally filled cookies every decade or so, but my love tends to fall for the ‘other’ hamantaschen.
I love raspberry, strawberry, apricot, peach and of course, chocolate filled hamantaschen. A few years ago, my dear friend Lauretta Singer brought me a plate of hamantaschen that included Nutella filled cookies. I was in heaven and must confess that I did not share these with my children. Hope they enjoyed the other kinds!
This year, I decided to branch out on my own and come up with a twist on an espresso cookie and I created Espresso Shortbread Hamantaschen with Nutella Filling. I was fortunate enough to be going to a large dinner party so I had plenty of opinions on which to base the success of the cookie.
The great news is that they were loved. The bad news is that I did not bake enough of them. Fortunately for me, they are also very easy to bake, so I did not mind whipping up another batch to nosh on around here.
If Purim is not a holiday you celebrate, then think of these beauties as a new delicious cookie to try. If Purim is your holiday, surprise your family and friends with a few of these twisted hamantaschen. They will thank you for giving them a new reason to celebrate the triumph of our ancestors a long, long time ago.
| Espresso Shortbread Hamantaschen with Nutella Filling | | Print |
- 12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, cold
- ½ cup sugar
- 2¼ cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 2 tablespoons espresso powder
- 1 egg
- about ¾ cup Nutella
- Preheat oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Combine butter and sugar in large mixing bowl. Beat on low speed until the ingredients are blended together and then increase speed to medium high and beat for 2 more minutes, scraping bowl down as needed.
- Mix in flour, salt, baking powder and espresso powder. Blend in egg.
- Roll dough out between sheets of parchment paper to ¼” thickness. Use 3” round cookie cutter or drinking glass to cut out circles. Transfer circles to baking sheets. Roll out excess dough and cut out more circles. Bake scraps on same baking pan as cookies.
- Scoop 1½ teaspoons Nutella into center of each circle. Pinch up the circles to form triangles. The Nutella should be seen in the middle of each triangle cookie.
- Refrigerate cookies for 15 minutes.
- Bake at 350° for 18 minutes, rotating front to back and top to bottom halfway through. Cool completely before eating.
Made these and took them to work. Everyone loved them but the best compliment came from a woman who has her own bakery. She said they were delicious and went back for more. I am going to make them again and try a variation on them. Instead of making hamantashens, since the holiday is almost over, I am going to us the same dough and make thumbprint cookies with a chocolate kiss in the middle. I would use Nutella but I am afraid that that it would be too sticky of a cookie center to neatly eat. I will let you know how they turn out.
Nancy,
I am thrilled that your friend who owns a bakery loved the cookies. Yeah!!
Please let me know how your experiment turns out. I think you are on to something great, but please do not shy away from the Nutella. It won’t be too sticky and besides, ‘finger licking good’ is a delicious consequence.
I made these again today but this time I made them like a thumbprint cookie. I still filled them with the yummy Nutella but because it was not near Purim I didn’t think hamenstachen cookies would be appropriate. The one thing I noticed was I needed two eggs this time to have dough bind enough. I baked them for 10 minutes and they were delicious as expected with your recipes
Nancy,
Thanks so much for the pointer!! I have to make them as thumbprints, too!!
It yielded around 36 cookies if you use the small cookie scoop.
Great to know, Nancy! Thank you!!
Do these need to be refrigerated? Thinking of making them to send to my daughter–think they would mail okay?
Hi Shelley,
Great question. The hamantaschen last longer when they are refrigerated but will be find to mail. I am sure you daughter will LOVE opening this care package!