Boston Cream Pie Hamantaschen

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Boston Cream Pie Hamantaschen

4.95 from 19 votes

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 12

refrigeration time 1

Total Time 1 42

Servings cookies

Calories 118

A modern twist on a Jewish classic, these Boston Cream Pie Hamantaschen are filled with delicious vanilla pastry cream and topped with a chocolate ganache.

Ingredients

Pastry Cream

475 grams whole milk (2 cups less 1 Tablespoon)
1 vanilla bean (or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
125 grams sugar (½ cup plus 2 Tablespoons)
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
25 grams all purpose flour (3 Tablespoons)
25 grams corn starch (2 Tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon)

Dough

283 grams all purpose flour (2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons)
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt
150 grams sugar (¾ cup)
113 grams unsalted butter at room temperature (8 Tablespoons or ½ cup)
1 egg, at room temperature
1 egg yolk, at room temperature
2 teaspoons whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla

Chocolate Ganache

57 grams heavy cream (¼ cup)
57 grams semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped finely (2 ounces)
½ Tablespoon cornstarch
pinch of salt (fine sea salt or kosher salt)

Instructions

Pastry Cream

Line a baking sheet with plastic wrap. Set aside.
Heat up the milk with the scraped vanilla bean and half of the sugar. (If using vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract, add it just when the milk comes to a boil.)
While the milk is heating up, whisk together the rest of the sugar, flour, corn starch egg, and egg yolk.
Once the milk comes to a boil, turn the heat off. Hold the pot of hot milk over the bowl of the egg mixture and start whisking the egg mixture. As you whisk, pour in approximately one-third of the milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly.
Pour the tempered egg mixture into the pot with the rest of the heated milk. Whisk to combine.
Turn the heat to medium high and whisk the mixture constantly. Once it comes to a boil, set a timer for 2 minutes and continue whisking and cooking for exactly 2 minutes.
Immediately pour the pastry cream onto plastic wrap lined baking sheet and enclose it tightly to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream. Allow it to cool to room temperature.

Hamantaschen Dough

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the sugar and butter, approximately 2-3 minutes. Add the egg, the egg yolk, milk, and vanilla, and beat until all the liquid ingredients are fully incorporated.
With the mixer off, pour the dry ingredients into the mixer bowl over the liquid ingredients. Turn the mixer on the lowest speed and mix just until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated. (Alternatively, you can mix the dry ingredients in by hand using a rubber spatula.) Do not overmix.
Place half the dough on top of a large piece of plastic wrap. Using the plastic wrap, shape the dough into a disk or rectangle, pushing down on it to thin it out. Fully cover the disk of dough in the plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least one hour and for as long as 24 hours. Repeat with the remaining portion of the dough.

Hamantaschen Assembly

Beat the pastry cream with an electric mixer until smooth. Fill a piping bag or Ziplock bag with the pastry cream. Cut the tip of the bag (or a bottom corner of the Ziplock bag).
Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Take one of the dough disks from the refrigerator and roll it out in between two pieces of parchment paper that are lightly dusted in flour. Roll the dough so that it is approximately ¼ of an inch thick. If you roll it too thin, the dough will rip as you remove it from the parchment. Using a round cookie cutter (I use a 2½ inch diameter), cut as many rounds out as you can. You may need to dip your cutter into some flour to avoid it sticking to the dough. Use a metal spatula dipped in flour to release the rounds. Gather the scraps and roll that clump of dough out and cut more rounds. Keep repeating until you have used all the dough. If at any point the dough becomes too sticky or difficult to work with, cover it in plastic wrap and let it chill in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes. Try to avoid adding too much flour to the dough.
Fill each round with a generous mound of pastry cream. Lightly flour your fingertips and form each circle into triangles by folding up the rounds and pinching them tightly in three corners. (If they are not sticking together, wet your fingertip and rub it on the inside where you are trying to create the point.) You want to make sure that the seams are fully closed so that they do not open while baking. Place the shaped hamantaschen on the prepared cookie sheets.
Place the cookie sheets with the shaped hamantaschen in the freezer for at least 15 minutes. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. (If you have limited freezer space, place them tightly, right next to each other, on one prepared cookie sheet or a plate. Once frozen, you can easily remove them and set them further apart on another parchment line baking sheet for baking.)
Preheat oven to 400° F.
Repeat steps 2 through 4 with the remaining disk of dough.
Bake the frozen hamantaschen for 12-14 minutes until they are lightly brown around the bottom edges.
Cool on pan for a few minutes and then completely on a wire rack. Top the hamantaschen with more pastry cream.

Chocolate Ganache Drizzle

Place the chocolate, cornstarch and salt in a heatproof bowl.
Bring the cream to a boil. Alternatively bring it to a boil in a microwave, at 30 second intervals.
Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate. Allow it to sit for 1-2 minutes. Starting from the center, whisk in concentric circles until the ganache starts to form. Once it is formed, whisk towards the edges of the bowl.
Use a spoon to drizzle the ganache over the hamantaschen. Alternatively, fill a piping bag or Ziplock bag with the ganache and drizzle.

Notes

Both the dough and the pastry cream can be made up to 48 hours in advance and stored wrapped in plastic wrap in the refrigerator.
If you are in a rush when making the dough, you can chill it in the freezer for 30 minutes before rolling it out, instead of refrigerating.
Store the baked and decorated hamantaschen in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Avoid freezing them.

Author: Rob Finkelstein

Calories: 118kcal

Course: Dessert, Tea Time

Cuisine: Jewish

Keyword: hamantaschen, pastry cream, Purim

Nutrition