Double chocolate, cinnamon and date
If you’re short of time you can replace the chocolate date mixture with a teaspoon of Nutella or other chocolate spread. I decorated mine with pretty, pink freeze-dried raspberries, but colourful sprinkles would also look gorgeously festive.
Makes 24 Preparation: 40 minutes Cooking: 20 minutes
INGREDIENTS For the pastry:
250g plain flour
30g cocoa powder 55g icing sugar
150g unsalted non-dairy margarine, cubed
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
Pinch salt
Chocolate date filling: 175g dried pitted dates, cover with boiling water for 5 minutes
50g chocolate chips, melted
1 tsp cinnamon
White drizzle:
100g white chocolate, melted
METHOD
● To make the pastry, put all the ingredients in a food processor and whizz to combine. Remove, wrap in cling film and leave to rest for 20 minutes or overnight in the fridge.
● While the pastry is resting/chilling, make the filling. Strain the dates, discarding the water and place in the food processor.
● Melt the chocolate over a pan of boiling water, or microwave for 1 minute. Pour over the dates, add the cinnamon, and purée the mixture until smooth.
● Preheat the oven to 200°C and line two baking trays with baking parchment.
● Lightly dust your work surface with flour. Roll out the pastry so that it is about 2mm thick. Using a 7.5cm cookie cutter, cut out as many circles as you can.
● Put a teaspoon of filling into the centre of each one. Carefully fold the edges to create a triangle shape and pinch the corners to secure together.
● Bake for 20 minutes or until the pastry is cooked.
● For the white chocolate topping, melt the chocolate. Using a spoon, drizzle the chocolate over the hamantaschen. Sprinkle over hundreds and thousands or your chosen topping.
● Leave to set for about an hour.
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