Sweet On You—Prune and Apricot Hamantashen
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup (1 1/3 sticks) cold, unsalted butter cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Hamantashen filling
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten with 2 teaspoons of sugar (egg wash)
2.25" round cutter for mini-hamantashen; 3" cutter for medium hamantashen and 4" cutter for large hamantashen
Place flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in the bowl of a good processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse 2 or 3 times to combine. Add the butter and pulse 5 times then process for 5 seconds to form meal-like crumbs.
Place the eggs, egg yolks and vanilla in a small bowl and mix with a fork to combine. Pour the mixture into the processor and pulse 4 or 5 times, then process for 1 minute, or until the dough begins to clump together. Pour out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Form the dough into two disks, wrap with plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour or up to three days.
Position oven racks in upper and lower thirds of the oven. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment or silpat mat. If using parchment, dab the corners of cookie sheets with butter to hold down the paper.
Lightly flour pastry board or cloth. Roll the dough to about 1/8 thickness. Cut 3" circles of dough and place them on the cookie sheet. Place the scraps in a heap on plastic wrap, gently press down to form a rectangle and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes before re-rolling.
When all the dough is cut, place 1 1/2 teaspoons of filling the center of each circle. Brush the perimeter with the egg wash. Lift two sides of the dough to partially cover the filling and press the corner together. Lift the third side and press the two corners together. Brush the tops of the cookies with the egg wash.
Bake for 18 minutes, or until the cookies are golden brown, rotating the cookie sheets top to bottom and front the back half-way through baking. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest on the sheet for 2 to 3 minutes before transferring to wire cooling racks.
Sweet On You Hamantashen filling
Prune filling
12 ounces pitted prunes
1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 slice lemon _-inch thick
1 slice orange _-inch thick
1/2 vanilla bean
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Place prunes, water, sugar, lemon and orange slices in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan. Split the vanilla bean in half, scrape out the seeds and add them to the prunes, add the vanilla bean as well. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and simmer for about 30 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat, remove the lemon and orange slices and the vanilla bean. Stir to combine and let cool. Transfer the mixture to a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse 5 or 6 times.
Apricot filling
8 ounces dried apricots
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup orange marmalade
1/2 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Place the apricots, water and marmalade in a heavy medium saucepan. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and bring to a slow boil. Simmer 18 to 20 minutes, or until apricots are very soft. Add more water and continue to cook if apricots aren’t tender and the water has dissipated. Stir in the brown sugar, lemon zest and juice and let cool. Transfer the mixture to a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse 5 or 6 times.