I don’t even know what to say about these hamentashen. They are just so much fun. Every year I try to come up with new creative hamentashen ideas that will push the envelope just a little bit further. While I think that no hamentahen recipe I think up will ever be quite as popular as the s’more hamentashen I made a few years back, I think these might just come close.
There is nothing quite as classic as the neopolitan flavor combination of strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate. I wanted to highlight those flavors in these hamentashen not only with the filling but in the dough as well. And frankly, I wanted them to look cool too. Part of what makes neopolitan ice cream so fun is the stripes of the different flavors. I knew I wanted the layers to stay distinct in the finished cookies (which is why I called them zebra cookies, because of the stripes.)
I considered layering the doughs and then cutting out slices and circles like Melinda did in her awesome rainbow hamentashen. But to be perfectly honest, that just seemed like a lot of work. Then I realized there was an easier way. I simply layered the doughs and rolled it up into a log like I would to make slice and bake pinwheel cookies. After chilling the dough it was easy to cut circles of the swirled dough, perfect for filling and folding into hamentashen.
No more rolling required. To enhance the flavors I filled the hamentashen with a strawberry and chocolate filling. The end result is quite striking. If you make these they are sure to be the talk of the town.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups(6.75oz, 190 g) flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (3.75 oz) sugar
1/4 cup (2 oz) margarine, cut into 8 pieces
1/4 cup (2 oz )shortening, cut into 8 pieces
1 beaten egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 tablespoons ice water
1.5 ounce freeze dried strawberries, ground to a fine powder in the food processor plus an extra egg yolk
one large vanilla bean
3 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1 cup good quality strawberry preserves
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup finely chopped semi sweet chocolate
Preparation
Place the strawberry powder and the rest of the dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor (flour through sugar) and pulse to combine. Add the margarine and shortening and pulse until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add the beaten egg and pulse until combined.
Remove the mixture from the food processor and pour into a large bowl. Press the dough together gently. If it makes a ball it is done. If it is still crumbly sprinkle the dough with one tablespoon of ice water and mix until it comes together into a smooth ball. If the dough still seems too dry add the remaining water until the dough just comes together.
Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.
Follow the instructions above but add the scraped out seeds of the vanilla bean to the flour mixture in place of the strawberries.
Follow the instructions above but add the cocoa powder to the dry ingredients in place of the strawberries.
Place the strawberry dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll it into a rectangle that is approximately 10 inches by 12 inches. It should be about a half inch thick. Set the strawberry dough aside.
Repeat with the other two doughs.
Peel the top piece of parchment off each of the doughs. Invert the vanilla dough on top of the strawberry dough and remove the bottom piece of parchment. Invert the chocolate dough on top of the vanilla dough. Using a sharp knife trip the rectangle to an even 10 x 12. Starting on one of the long sides carefully run a spatula between the edge of strawberry dough and the parchment. Carefully roll up the dough. It is helpful to run the spatula under the strawberry dough every few inches to keep it from sticking as it rolls. The dough may crack a bit as it rolls, that is fine. Just gently pinch it back together. Once the dough it all the way rolled up use the parchment paper to tightly wrap the dough log. Gently roll the log against the counter to make sure it is tightly rolled. Chill until firm enough to slice, at least two hours but preferably overnight.
Preheat the oven to 350. Combine the strawberry preserves and corn starch in a medium bowl and stir until well combined. Remove the dough roll from the refrigerator. Unwrap it and slice it into 1/4 inch slices. Rotate the dough log every few minutes to keep it from developing a flat side. The ends may not be as large or well swirled as the middle. Save the imperfect end scraps and press them together into circles for more abstract hamentashen.
Place each circle on a parchment lined baking sheet. Let the dough stand for 5-10 minutes to warm up. Fill with a scant teaspoon of the jam mixture. Sprinkle with a few small pieces of chocolate. Be careful not to overfill the hamentashen or they will burst open in the oven. Also, if there are any holes in the dough the filling will leak out in the oven so patch any cracks in the side of the hamentashen before baking. Fold two sides of the circle together, pinching tight to make a corner. Fold up the remaining side to make a triangle with the filling showing in the middle and pinch the other two corners well. It is important that they are well pinched, so that they do not come open in the oven.
Bake the hamentashen until they are slightly firm to the touch, 9-11 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for one minute. Transfer to cooling rack and let cool completely.
http://oldsite.couldntbeparve.com/2015/02/neapolitan-zebra-hamentashen/
