1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter or margarine, at room temperature
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp milk (or other non-dairy milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp grated lemon zest (optional)
1½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
Categories
Dessert
Cuisine
Holiday
Steps
Beat the butter and sugar together until smooth.
Add egg, milk, vanilla and lemon zest until mixed thoroughly.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Add dry mixture to wet mixture until incorporated. Note: If the dough is too soft, increase flour amount by a few Tbsp at a time until firmer.
Form dough into a disk and cover with plastic wrap. Chill dough in the fridge for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.
Dust surface with flour to keep from sticking. Roll the dough to about ¼-inch thick.
Using a round 3-inch cookie cutter, cut out and place onto cookie sheet. To keep the dough from sticking to your cutter, dip in flour before each cut.
Fill each round with ½ tsp of your favorite filling, and using your favorite method, pinch corners together tightly.
Pop into the fridge for 10 minutes, or freezer for 5 minutes, to ensure hamantaschen hold their shape.
Bake at 400°F for 7-9 minutes.
Reviews
LAC on 2024-01-02 (5 stars): Great recipe! Easy and very tasty! Thank you
Joanna Jost on 2024-03-08 (5 stars): Love this recipe. I've now made, collectively, probably over 1,500 hamantaschen using this recipe. I bake 500+ each year for our synagogue. The mohn filling and apricot filling recipes are fantastic as well.
Barbara panken on 2024-03-14 (5 stars): I add orange juice instead of milk. Yummy!!!!!!!!
stuart borken on 2026-02-16 (5 stars): orange juice instead of milk and orange zest in place of lemon zest
Jeanette on 2025-03-08 (4 stars): I made the recipe twice.
The first time I followed it exactly.
Maybe it's my Canadian taste buds, but although the dough was terrific I thought
It was way too sweet.
The second time I reduced the sugar to one cup and it was fine. (I doubled the recipe)
I brushed the hamentashen with a little
melted vanilla ice cream and sprinkle of coarse sugar to give them a shine .
I tried the dolce de leche filling - a bit too runny. I'll stick with good apricot jam!
Thanks for a great cookie recipe.
Iris Lauber on 2025-03-09 (5 stars): I used orange juice.
Alan J Winters on 2024-03-17 (5 stars): The raspberry with chocolate chips sound really good. Why do you not recommend not freezing them after they are baked?
Bobbe on 2024-03-20 (4 stars): Going’s to try these
Anonymous on 2024-03-20 (5 stars): I had so much fun 🤩 baking them 🫶🏻🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶
Mikail on 2024-03-21 (5 stars): Shalom. Todâh! Thank you for the recipe, though I have not tried it yet, I appreciate the time and care you put into sharing this for everyone. I know that your recipe will be an enjoyable experience, along with the trial and error of both personal taste Preferences and Getting the recipe down to a science.
Merle on 2024-03-21 (5 stars): Great recipe. I highly recommend adding the lemon zest to the dough, and might even suggest orange zest as an alternative. One thing: The baking time was not accurate. After preheating the oven and baking for 7-9 minutes on the middle rack (right out of the refrigerator), mine needed almost twice as long as the recipe states. Hmm...
Michele on 2024-03-23 (5 stars): Thanks so much for this fantastic and delicious recipe!
It is going to be the only hamantaschen recipe that I use from now on!
Oh my goodness, it is so gratifying to spend all of the time shaping the hamantaschen and they keep their shape whilst baking!
The hamantaschen are beautiful, light and crispy, and everyone is really enjoying them!
Chag Sameach Purim! :)
Amy Hartnett on 2024-03-25 (5 stars): Used this recipe for the first time and I’m never looking back!! Putting them in the fridge made all the difference, this was the first time ever they didn’t fall apart on me. This is a keeper.
Ruth Daggers on 2024-03-26 (5 stars): First time I've ever made Hamantaschen. I used your recipe, and in the Hamantaschen competition at the Purim party at synagogue I got first prize (I used a dolce de leche filling), so thank you very much The Nosher!
Mary G on 2026-02-25 (5 stars): I’ve found that the preserves from Trader Joe’s work very well, especially apricot and raspberry.
Sharon G on 2024-10-13 (5 stars): These are delicious! I used orange juice instead of milk, salted butter (added no additional salt), cherry pie filling, topped with turbinato sugar and baked at 400 for 12 minutes. They really are fabulous!
Mair on 2024-12-08 (3 stars): I love these cookies! Bought them at a super market located in Jewish community, years ago and thought they were just heavenly!! Then I moved away and never found them in any store near me. So sad...until I found the recipe...yum! yum! yum! The poppyseed is simply luscious!!
sound awake on 2024-12-21 (5 stars): what i love about this recipe is
its so inexpensive to make
Mona on 2025-03-04 (5 stars): Excellent! I’ve made these many times and this recipe is easy , delicious and gone before you know it!
Phyllis on 2025-03-06 (5 stars): This was my first time making hamantaschen and I'm so pleased with the outcome, they are delicious. I mixed the dough in my food processor, which worked well. I found the dough to be quite sticky and had to add 3 Tbsp. of flour. I chilled the dough for just over an hour and I found it very easy to work with. My recipe yielded 2 dozen; perhaps I rolled the dough out thinner than called for but they're holding together just fine. I used apricot jam, using small amounts in each one as called for, which gives it enough sweetness and flavour. I baked them at 375 degrees instead and watched them closely. I suggest using a heavy gauge pan, as the heat distributes more evenly. Thanks for this recipe. Happy Purim!
Mila on 2025-03-13 (5 stars): Can you use dough that was in fridge for 48 hrs (not 24 hrs)?
The recipe was amazing! Thank you!
Melanie on 2025-03-13 (5 stars): Freezing the cookies before baking made all the difference. They stayed together and were definitely tasty. My three inch cutter was perhaps too big (although I did get 18 cookies plus a bit of leftover dough) so they needed 15 min at 400 (calibrated oven too). Great recipe!!
Laura on 2025-03-14 (5 stars): This was my first ever attempt at baking these and they turned out great! I used orange zest instead of lemon, and orange juice instead of milk, and I doubled the recipe and used raspberry jam for the filling... glad I doubled them because they'll go quick in my house! I should have added a bit more flour before resting them but I wasn't sure what the texture should be like, now I'll know for next time
Charlotte on 2025-03-16 (5 stars): I used your recipe and used raspberry jam, walnut fig and chocolate as fillings. They were a hit!
elizabeth eplin on 2025-12-18 (5 stars): My cookies did not hold their shape , they sort of melted in the oven. I think I'll put them in the freezer before I bake them, don't know the secret to having them keep their shape is, but they taste sooooo good, they are just addictive no matter what their shape! Just love them.
Chloe on 2026-01-05 (5 stars): Good dough. Made my own apricot mango filling. I have also frozen them baked and filled. Freeze well. Freeze on a tray first then pack into an airtight container with wax paper between layers.
Lynn on 2026-02-21 (5 stars): These are so delicious! I rolled out the dough and then pressed mini chips into the dough with my rolling pin. Perfect with a raspberry jam filling.
Rachel Hanson on 2026-02-26 (5 stars): I have made these and frozen the cookie after it was baked. They tasted fine.
Lesley on 2026-02-28 (5 stars): This is the best hamantaschen I’ve ever had! The dough is soft and workable, and you can chill longer to firm up again. As soon as I tasted the first one, I immediately wrote it in my recipe book as a double batch and started making a double batch of it. Thank you!
Linda Z. on 2026-03-01 (5 stars): These were delicious --the best hamantaschen I have ever made (and I have been baking for many years.) I will continue using this recipe.
Victoria Nikolov on 2026-03-04 (5 stars): Excellent recipe and very clear instructions
Eva-Lynn Diesenhaus on 2026-03-09 (5 stars): I made this gluten free and it is the best recipe I have made yet! I am ready to enter it next year in our Hamentaschen bake off!
I used King Arthurs' Measure for Measure. The only milk I had was Trader Joe's Coconut Creamer. I just threw out all the other recipes I have tried since I became gluten-free!
Thank you for a really delicious and easy recipe.
Sue on 2026-03-09 (5 stars): I get so many compliments on this recipe!
Donna on 2026-03-17 (5 stars): Great recipe - it was easy to follow. The hamantaschen were so delicious!
