Double Chocolate Mint Hamantaschen

Purim is one of the most accessible Jewish holidays to celebrate. Like Halloween, a big part of it is dressing up and being silly. (All-night reading of The Scroll of Esther and lots of drinking are the other parts.) Unlike Halloween, there’s a beautiful part of Purim that involves the giving of gifts to friends and tzedakah (charity) to the poor. If you’re just dipping your toes in the holiday for the first time, a great way to celebrate is with delicious food. Hamentaschen, symbolizing Haman’s hat, from the story of Purim (which has an interfaith story line), are cookies traditionally made with jam or poppy seed filling, but who doesn’t love chocolate?

chocolate mint

I was inspired to do a hamantaschen based on my favorite Girl Scout cookie, the Thin Mint. It focuses on that sweet, decadent chocolate and the mint is brought in via a subtle peppermint glaze. And, if peppermint isn’t your thing, just leave it out and you have yourself a delicious chocolate hamantaschen that will please all your friends and family and maybe just introduce the holiday of Purim to a newcomer.

unbaked hamentaschen

Ingredients:

Makes 2 dozen (give or take a couple)

  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup oil
  • 1 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp. vanilla
  • 3 tsp. baking powder
  • 6 cups flour
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 tablespoon strong coffee
  • 1/4 – 1/2 cup large chocolate chips (semi sweet or milk will work. I used milk chocolate)
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/4 tsp peppermint oil
  • 3 tablespoons milk

Instructions:

1. Preheat Oven: 350°F

2. In a medium mixing bowl, mix together eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla.

3. Next, add baking powder and flour to the bowl and mix well to combine. Finally, add the cocoa and strong coffee and give it one more good stir (dough should be thick, almost like bread dough).

4. Knead the dough until smooth.

5. Flour a rolling pin and roll out to roughly 1/8 inch thin on a floured board.

6. Using a round cookie cutter or a drinking glass with a wide opening, cut out circles (use the scraps to make cookies as well, just keep forming into a large ball and rolling out thin and repeat process until dough is done).

7. Drop a handful of chocolate chips (should be roughly 10 chips or more) into the center of each circle.

8. Have a glass or small bowl of a little bit of cold water near by so that you can dip your fingers in to help fold the dough into three sides over the filling forming a triangle (water acts as a glue to the dough and will help edges stick).

9. Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes on a lined cookie sheet.

10. Once fully cooked, let cool for at least 5 – 10 minutes. While cooling, place the powdered sugar, peppermint oil and milk into a small bowl and stir until milky consistency.

11. Once the cookies are cool, brush the sugar/oil mixture over the tops.

Hamentaschen ready to bake

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Whitney Fisch

Whitney Fisch received her Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Michigan and is currently working as The Director of Counseling at Milken Community Schools’ Upper School Campus in Los Angeles, CA. When not dealing with the trials and tribulations of roughly 600 high schoolers, she is at home dealing with the trials and tribulations of her preschooler and 6-month-old baby as well as cooking… a lot. She blogs about all things food and life on her blog, Jewhungry was a Top 5 finalist in The Kitchn’s Homie Awards for Best Health & Diet blog in 2014 and also co-authored a Passover e-cookbook that same year with fellow Jewish food bloggers, Amy Kritzer, Sarah Lasry and Liz Reuven called, “4 Bloggers Dish: Passover – Modern Twists on Traditional Recipes.” You can follow Whitney’s adventures in parenting and life on her blog as well as in other media outlets such as The Huffington Post, Kveller.com and The Times of Israel, all of which Whitney is a contributor for. Instagram: @jewhungry Facebook: www.facebook.com/Jewhungry Twitter: @jewhungry Blog: www.jewhungrytheblog.com

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Author: Whitney Fisch