Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Hamantashen
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 44
Ingredients
  • 16½ oz (3⅔ cups) all-purpose flour
  • 1 oz (1/3 cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 3 eggs
  • 7 oz (1 cup) granulated sugar
  • 4 oz (1/2 cup) vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 lb (1½ cups) strawberry preserves
  • 12 oz chocolate candy coating
  • 1 oz freeze-dried strawberries
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla extract.
  2. Pour the egg mixture over the dry ingredients, and stir everything together. It will be dry at first, but continue to stir and it will all come together in a smooth dough. Toward the end, you might find it easiest to knead the dough by hand until it is smooth and supple.
  3. Form the dough into a disc, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for an hour to firm it up a bit.
  4. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Divide the dough in half, and roll out half of the dough between two sheets of waxed paper or parchment paper, until it is less than ¼-inch thick—about ⅛ inch of an inch thick is ideal. Use a 3-inch round cookie cutter to cut circles out of the dough. Transfer the circles to a baking sheet lined with parchment.
  5. Before the cookie circles get too dry, fill and fold them. Place 1 tsp strawberry jam in the center of each cookie circle—you might be tempted to add more filling, but resist—too much filling will cause the hamantashen to leak or open up. To fold the cookies, first take one side and fold it over, then fold over the opposite side so that the top forms a point. Finally, fold up the bottom so that it is a triangle shape with some of the jam showing in the center. Tuck one side of the bottom flap under the first fold, so that each flap is overlapped by another—this will help them to stay closed.
  6. Re-roll the scraps of dough, and repeat the filling and folding process. Roll out the second half of the dough and repeat the whole process. You should get about 44 cookies from this batch if you use a 3-inch cookie cutter.
  7. Bake the cookies at 350 F for about 10 minutes, until they are puffed and set around the edges. Let the cookies cool completely before proceeding.
  8. Place the freeze-dried strawberries in the bowl of a food processor and process them until they're a fine powder. If you don't have a food processor, place the strawberries in a large zip-top bag and roll over them with a rolling pin until they're crushed into a powder.
  9. Melt the chocolate candy coating in a bowl in the microwave, stirring after every 30 seconds to prevent overheating. Hold a cookie by one tip, and dip it partially in the chocolate, covering about half of the cookie. Place the dipped cookie back on a baking sheet covered with parchment, and while the chocolate is still wet, sprinkle it with some of the strawberry powder. Once the chocolate is set, the cookies are ready to be served. Store Hamantashen in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week, or in the refrigerator for two weeks. For the best taste and texture, serve them at room temperature.
Recipe by Oh Nuts Blog at https://www.ohnuts.com/blog/chocolate-covered-strawberry-hamantaschen/