Hamantaschen Cookie Recipe | Purim Recipes | Let's Eat Cake (2024)

Celebrate Purim with this easy recipe for Hamantaschen Cookies. This buttery version of Hamantaschen incorporates matcha green tea into the dough and is filled with a white chocolate ganache. If you’re looking for the classic flavor, simply leave out the matcha and fill with prune or poppy seed jam!

I first made Hamantaschen cookies years ago when I was heading up to Santa Barbara and Solvang for a weekend of wine tasting and wanted to surprise my then boyfriend on the way with his favorite cookies. To make the Hamantaschen, I started with Tori Avey’s buttery cookie dough recipe and filled it with the New York Times’ prune jam. The latter of which tastes way better than it sounds. Because, honestly, prune jam sounds pretty miserable.

The Hamantaschen cookies didn’t last long and got rave reviews, but I haven’t made a batch since. But, with Purim coming up in a week, I thought it might be about time to do so! This new recipe plays on the original, but I added matcha and filled them with white chocolate filling to make matcha hamantaschen cookies!

What Are Hamantaschen?

Hamantaschen cookies (pronouced huh-min-tah-shun) are triangular cookies baked to celebrate Purim. They’re said to represent the hat the villain Haman wore, though they have also been known to represent his pockets or even his ears.

Traditionally, Hamantaschen are filled with prune or poppy jam, but you really can fill them with any jam you like. I will say, if you make the prune jam, the recipe makes an insane amount of filling. I had about two pounds of filling in the fridge leftover in the fridge. But, it was very easy to make. I simply combined prunes, lemon juice, sugar, and water, cooked it down, then let it sit and firm up. You also need to let the filling set for at least eight hours before you use it in the cookies.

I had a lot of fun building the cookies and I’ve included step-by-step directions below (here’s a great step-by-step illustration by Aly Miller that’s helpful).

How to Make Hamantaschen

After your dough has chilled in the fridge for at least an hour, roll the dough out on a flat, floured surface until it is approximately 1/4″ thick. A little thinner is ok, but any thicker makes them hard to fold.

Using a 3″ wide (or larger) circular cookie cutter, cut circles out of the dough. Place each circle on a parchment-lined baking sheet.Keep rolling and cutting out circles until you run out of space on the baking sheet. (I like to roll enough to fill the baking sheet, fold those, then roll and cut more.)

Brush each cut circle with the egg wash. Then, place up to one teaspoon of filling in the center. Do not use more filling unless you want them to overflow in your oven. No one wants that. So, no overfill-y! And, even if you do fill the Hamantaschen with one teaspoon or filling, you may still have a few that volcano. I found the white chocolate filling overflowed a little using one teaspoon, so I would use a little less. I suggest using 1/2 teaspoon in the recipe, but 3/4 would probably work.

How to Fold Hamantaschen Cookies

This is the most complicated part of the whole process, but it’s not hard.

To fold Hamantaschen, pick up the left side and fold it 1/3 of the way towards the center. Pick up the right side and fold it 1/3 of the way towards the center. The top should overlap the left side to create a point. Fold the bottom 1/3 of the way towards the center. Tuck the left side of the bottom fold under the left fold. The right side of the bottom fold should overlap the right fold. Pinch each corner gently to help contain the filling as it bakes. Brush all corners with egg wash.

When folding, you may find the dough cracks or breaks on the thinner ones. These are likely to open when baking, but they’ll still be tasty.

Transfer the prepared Hamantaschen to the fridge and let them chill for 30 minutes before baking. I find this helps them stick together when they bake instead of collapsing into a plate of sad-looking Hamantaschen. I tested it both ways (with chilling and without) and the chilled cookies definitely held their shape better.

Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350°F until the edges are light golden brown and let cool completely before enjoying. Otherwise, you’re gonna be in a hot jam! Get it? Hot jam? I blame Hannah for this.

(In the photos here, I baked them without filling and filled them with the white chocolate after. Unfortunately, most of them collapsed when baking, so I’ve been testing since. Updated process photos to come.)

10 More Hamantaschen Recipes

Bored with prune and poppy filling? Try these!

Cannoli Hamantaschen Cookies
Italian-inspired Cannoli Hamantaschen filled with creamy ricotta cheese and topped with a drizzle of chocolate and confectioner’s sugar.

Rainbow Hamantaschen
These Rainbow Hamantaschen are perfect for any celebration

Oreo Hamantaschen
Chocolate pastry and classic Oreo-inspired filling? Yes yes yes.

Marzipan Sprinkle Hamantaschen
These cookies by Molly Yeh take the sprinkle game to a whole new level.

Red Velvet Hamantaschen
I’m a big fan of red velvet (evidence: Red Velvet Donuts and Red Velvet Cupcake recipes) and was thrilled to find this Red Velvet version of the classic triangle cookies.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Hamantaschen
Almost nothing makes me happier than peanut butter, unless it’s combined with chocolate or jelly. This recipe makes a peanut butter dough you can then fill with any jam flavor you like. Or even chocolate…

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Hamantaschen
Almost everyone loves cookie dough and this recipe uses it to fill the chocolate cookies!

Apricot Hamantaschen
Simple, classy, delicious.

Chocolate Pretzel Hamantaschen
This dairy-free dough recipe is filled with chocolate and topped with pretzels and pinch of seal salt. Use cacao to keep it dairy-free.

Chocolate Dipped Hamantaschen Topped with Sprinkles
The Nosher has a ton of Hamantaschen cookie recipes on their site and this is another of my favorites (the Cannoli version above is theirs as well). Once you fill the cookies with the jam of your choice, simply dip them in chocolate and add sprinkles for a festive touch.