Baking hamantashen for Purim is a family tradition for many of us. Also a family tradition for many of us is quickly eating all the hamantashen that have spread open in the oven. As delicious as hamantashen are (no matter how they look), you can’t exactly show them off on Facebook if they’ve opened like a regular cookie. But please don’t be discouraged this year! I’ve found a combination of two tricks that work with any recipe to help keep my hamantashen looking beautiful even after baking.

Roll out your dough as thin as possible. I roll mine out to 1/16 of an inch. If you aren’t questioning whether the dough is too thin, it’s probably not thin enough.

After filing with jelly, smash those corners together until there’s no seam. Don’t even think about them as corners, just mash them together. Once they’re combined, then you form the corners to give them their hamantash shape.

Hamantashen

• 1 C. sugar
• 1 C. margarine
• 2 eggs
• 2 yolks
• ½ C. orange juice
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 5 C. flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• Pinch of salt

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the margarine and sugar together. Next, add the wet ingredients. Last, mix in the flour, baking powder and salt.

Roll out to 1/16th of an inch. Cut into circles and place on parchment paper-lined baking tray. Add a drop of natural strawberry jam to center. Fold over sides and pinch corners together until they don’t resemble corners. Now form into corners. Bake for 8 minutes.

By Dina Silverberg

Dina Silverberg is obsessed with the art and science behind baking and loves developing and perfecting recipes. She also sells chocolate and cinnamon babka to order for Shabbos.