Hamantaschen

Hamantaschen are filled triangular cookies, classically made to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim. For this hamantaschen recipe, you’ll choose from three different sweet fillings. First up, a riff on the quintessential poppy seed iteration, traditionally made with mohn (sweetened poppy seed paste), which we’ve brightened with lemon zest and enriched with vanilla.

There’s also a a baklava-inspired honey-nut filling (with pecans, pistachios, and walnuts) and an orange-scented date version spiced with cinnamon. You could also use store-bought (or homemade) jam—apricot, prune, cherry, and raspberry are all popular choices.

A few tips for success: First, it's important to use a scale to measure your ingredients by weight, particularly the flour. This crisp, shortbread-like dough is easiest to work with at room temperature. If you want to make and chill the dough ahead of time, be sure to let the chilled dough sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling out. If the dough becomes too soft, chill it for a few minutes until it firms up again. Rolling the dough between two sheets of parchment paper makes it easier to maneuver—and eliminates the need for added flour, which could make the cookies tough. Don’t worry if there are some cracks in the dough as you fold up the edges—they will disappear when you pinch and seal the points together. The bottoms of the cookies will brown more quickly than the tops, but be careful when checking for doneness: Those sweet centers can turn lava-hot in the oven so let them cool on the baking sheet until just warm before tasting.

Editor’s note: This recipe has been updated since it was first published. Upon re-testing, we found that accurately measuring at least the flour by weight is the most important step for success; we’ve updated the recipe to include metric measurements.