Cookery

Another delicious recipe from Denise Phillips

For more recipes and inspiration visit my website: www.jewishcookery.com

Chocolate & Date Hamantaschen

These hamantaschen are filled with a chocolate date mixture. You can use a teaspoon of Nutella as a short cut. Drizzle with white or dark chocolate or both! I have decorated mine with freeze dried raspberry powder – you can use colourful sprinkles if you prefer.

Preparation Time: 40 minutes Cooking Time: 20 minutes Makes: 24

Ingredients For the pastry 250g plain flour 30g cocoa powder 55g icing sugar 150g unsalted non-dairy margarine – cut into cubes 1 teaspoon 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 teaspoon cinnamon

White Drizzle 100g white chocolate – melted 2 tablespoons sprinkles or dried raspberry powder Method

Method 1) To make the pastry, add all the ingredients to the food processor and whizz together to combine. Remove, cover with cling film and leave to rest for 20 minutes or overnight in the fridge. 2) While the pastry is chilling, make the filling. Strain the dates, discarding the water and place in the food processor. 3) Melt the chocolate over a pan of boiling water or microwave for 1 minute. Pour over the dates, add the cinnamon, and puree the mixture until smooth. 4) Preheat the oven to 200C and line two baking trays with baking parchment paper. 5) Lightly dust your work surface with flour. Roll out the pastry so that it is about 2cm thick. Using a 7.5cm cookie cutter make round templates. 6) Put a teaspoon of filling into the centre of each circle. Carefully fold the edges to create a triangle shape and pinch the corners to secure together. 7) Bake for 20 minutes or until the pastry is cooked. 8) 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. 9) Set aside to set.