If you don’t know what a hamantaschen is, you clearly never went to your bubbie’s to celebrate Purim. Thankfully, you don’t need to be Jewish to enjoy this delicious dessert. After all, it’s got just about everything you could want in a cookie: sweet pastry dough, a unique shape, and literally anything you want inside.

To count as a hamantaschen, it’s got to have three sides, it’s got to have some kind of filling, and it’s got to be made out of some kind of dough. After that, you can pretty much do whatever; sure there’s the classic jam-filled hamantaschen, but why stop there? So take out your oven mitts and get excited for Purim this month, because some of these creative hamantaschen from around the web are too delicious to be missed.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Stuffed Hamantaschen

That’s right: a cookie within a cookie. A chocolate cookie stuffed inside chocolate pastry dough. What’s not to love?

INGREDIENTS

for the chocolate hamantaschen dough

• 1 egg
• 1 egg white
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 3 tablespoons almond milk
• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1¾ teaspoons baking powder

for the chocolate chip cookie dough

• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ cup earth balance (or butter), at room temperature
• ¼ cup sugar
• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 cup chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS

first, make the chocolate hamantaschen dough

1. in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the egg, egg white, and sugar on medium speed until combined. add the oil and almond milk and beat until smooth.
2. in a small bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder. with the mixer on low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until everything is just combined.
3. form the dough into a disc and wrap it in plastic wrap. let it chill in the fridge for at least an hour.

meanwhile, make the chocolate chip cookie dough

1. in a small bowl, combine the flour and baking soda.
2. again in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the earth balance and both sugars on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy. add the salt, vanilla, and egg, and beat until combined. with the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until everything is combined. stir in the chocolate chips.
3. form the dough into a disc and wrap it in plastic wrap. let it chill in the fridge for at least an hour.

meanwhile, make the chocolate chip cookie dough

1. in a small bowl, combine the flour and baking soda.
2. again in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the earth balance and both sugars on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy. add the salt, vanilla, and egg, and beat until combined. with the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until everything is combined. stir in the chocolate chips.

then, assemble the hamantaschen

1. preheat the oven to 350ºf and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. take about a quarter of the hamantaschen dough and roll it out between two pieces of wax paper to about ¼-inch thickness. use some sort of circular item (a biscuit cutter, a round cookie cutter, a glass) to cut circles out of the dough. top each circle with about a teaspoon of chocolate chip cookie dough.
3. for each circle, fold up the sides into a triangular shape, and pinch the corners together tightly.
4. repeat this with the rest of the two doughs, re-rolling the scraps of hamantaschen dough as needed.
5. bake the hamantaschen on the prepared baking sheet for about 10 minutes, until they are just starting to darken at the corners. the chocolate chip cookie dough should still be a bit soft. let the hamantaschen cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Funfetti Cheesecake Hamantaschen

The most colorful way to scream “I love Purim” to the world, these hamantaschen are basically just fun! packed into a little triangle.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 t vanilla
• 1/2 cup oil
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 t baking powder
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sprinkles
• 1 cup cheesecake filling (recipe below)

Cheesecake Filling:

• 1 8oz package of cream cheese
• 1/3 cup of sugar (you could use 1/2 cup if you like it very sweet)
• 1 tsp. of vanilla extract

Combine ingredients until smooth. Makes about 1 cup.

Directions:

1. Cream together sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla.

2. Slowly add flour and baking powder. Mix together. The dough might be crumbly, use your hands to smooth it out and combine it.
3. Add sprinkles to dough (add the sprinkles in slowly, depending on how many sprinkles you want in the dough and don’t over mix them with the dough)
4. Roll out dough on floured surface (about 1/4 to 1/8 thick. Not too thick since then the circles are hard to shape and will open up. Not too thin since then it will rip when shaping or filling) and cut out circles using a large circle cookie cutter or the rim of a large glass cup or mason jar.
5. Fill center of the dough with cheesecake filling (about 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp) and bake on 350′ for 12 to 15 minutes depending on how soft or crispy you want them. I like them super soft so took them out around 12 minutes.
6. Once hamantaschen have cooled off drizzle melted white chocolate or cheesecake icing on top. Optional: top with more sprinkles! For cheesecake icing, I took leftover cheesecake filling and added some powdered sugar and milk to get a thinner consistency. Regular icing (powdered sugar and milk or water) would work great as well.

* How To Shape Hamantaschen: Place filling in center than slowly fold over one side. Then the next and finally bring the bottom on top. Gently pinch the corners. You can also simply bring up the sides, forming a triangle by pinching the corners together.

Here are some other creative ways to make the most out of Purim:

https://www.talknsave.net/blog/purim-diy-book-fairy-costume-awesome-book/

https://www.talknsave.net/blog/let-wild-rumpus-start-diy-purim-pasta-mask-madness/

https://www.talknsave.net/blog/beyond-mishloach-manot-endless-possibilities/