Bakeable chocolate filling

[JFLinLA]

I'm getting ready for my annual baking of massive quantities of hamantashen. I use a combination of purchased and home made fillings -- both the traditional fillings as well as some non-traditional ones.

The non-traditional filling that I struggle with every year is chocolate. Always a favorite with the kids and, quite frankly, I like it too. Every year I make a pretty thick ganache, and every year it boils up and out of my dough during baking.

Can anyone propose a good alternative? Could I make something with cocoa instead of chocolate? Any ideas are welcome.

[if you are unfamiliar, hamantashen are a Jewish pastry where the dough is rolled and cut into a round shape and then folded into a triangle to surround a filling, with a small amount of the filling peeking out of the top. Traditional fillings are poppy seed (mohn), prune (lekvar), and a variety of other fruit flavors.]

[bloviatrix]

I've used chocolate chips in the past. They maintain their shape, don't run, and actually work fairly well.

My other suggestion would be to make a hamentash shell and bake. Once it's cool, pipe some ganache into the center.

Edited February 4, 2004 by bloviatrix (log)

[TrishCT]

Don't know if this will help, but a bakery I once worked at used chocolate bars for their chocolate croissants. Kept the oozing to a minimum.

[jeniac42]

There's a recipe for chocolate hamantaschen in the Alice Medrich "A Year in Chocolate" book. I haven't tried it but if your library has the book, you might use the filling from that recipe and see if it works for you.

[bloviatrix]

Jodi, I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to tack on my hamentaschen-related question here.

In past years I have made a chocolate hamentasch with raspberry filling. Anyway, I have never been happy with the chocolate dough I've used. It cracks and isn't easily manipulated to form the triangle shaped cookie.

Does anyone have a chocolate dough recipe they can share that is sturdy enough to hold up to hamentasch making? I'm on a quest for a new one.

[Jason Perlow]

FYI for those of you watching at home, Purim, otherwise known as "Hamentaschen Week" is March 4-7.

[JFLinLA]

Blov:

Don't mind at all. I may have something at home that will work. I'll have to check. I make two different kinds of dough:

A cookie dough that is easier to work with, especially for kids and newbie bakers. You could probably easily replace a bit of flour with cocoa.

A yeast dough that is flakier and less sweet that I like much better.

What kind of dough do you prefer?

[bloviatrix]

The cookie dough would be preferable. I'm looking for something easy as I'll be doing 2 or 3 hamentasch variations.

[mkfradin]

How about a bear claw filling, with chocolate cake crumbs, a little bit of glucose, and an egg to hold it together? It can be very chocolatey without burning like real chocolate would. Mazel Tov!

[JFLinLA]

Blov -- It was a crazy night. It will likely be the weekend before I can get to the dough recipe to post for you. Given that it's a few weeks to Purim, I hope that's OK.

MKF -- I've never done that but it sounds like it's worth a try. Can you provide a recipe for a fearless home baker?

Trish, or anyone else -- Where can I find the chocolate bars used for chocolate croissants. I had thought of that as well and had seen them in the past from the King Arthur folks but couldn't find them when I checked there yesterday.

Edited February 5, 2004 by JFLinLA (log)

[bloviatrix]

Blov -- It was a crazy night. It will likely be the weekend before I can get to the dough recipe to post for you. Given that it's a few weeks to Purim, I hope that's OK.

I figure my baking will start on March 2, so no need to rush.

[ozgirl06]

What about Nutella? It isn't for a strict chocolate purist, but it works great!

[TrishCT]

Trish, or anyone else -- Where can I find the chocolate bars used for chocolate croissants. I had thought of that as well and had seen them in the past from the King Arthur folks but couldn't find them when I checked there yesterday.

Sorry to say that the bakery I worked for (Brookline Bakery, Brookline, MA) is no longer there (burned down ), and I don't know where they got their chocolate from. I do recall it coming in small thin bars, though.

Blovi-- I think I misunderstood your post and thought you were going to make the doughy kind of hamantaschen...but it appears you are making the cookie kind, which can handle a creamier filling than just pure chocolate bars.

Another bakeable chocolate filling called "Regina," is very good but it is much more like a pie filling and would probably ooze unless you wanted to fill the 'taschen afterwards.

[bloviatrix]

Blovi-- I think I misunderstood your post and thought you were going to make the doughy kind of hamantaschen...but it appears you are making the cookie kind, which can handle a creamier filling than just pure chocolate bars.

To clarify my question -- I'm just looking for a new recipe for a chocolate dough that can withstand all the handling.

My plan is to do a chocolate hamentaschen with a raspberry jam filling.

[ruthcooks]

There is a recipe with chocolate dough AND chocolate filling in the UCLA Jewish Student Magazine, here:

http://www.haam.net/articles.asp?ID=62

[JFLinLA]

Blov -- Here's the easy to handle cookie dough recipe. It's from Judy Zeidler's "Gourmet Jewish Cook" but, I'm including some notes I've learned from experience. When I say "experience," let me explain. Every year, another woman and I each make 5 batches of this recipe and bring them to our temple with a variety of fillings. Then, on one Sunday morning, in about 3 hours, about a dozen people transform these into hundreds and hundreds of hamantashen that are sold at the Purim carnival. Let's just say that our team members have varying levels of experience and dexterity when it comes to this task. This recipe is not chocolate but you could easily throw a few tablespoons of cocoa powder into the dough.

1/4 pound unsalted butter or margarine (I can never explain it but margarine makes this easier to handle and which is why we use it for the massive hamantashen assembly line. Please forgive me.)

1/4 cup sugar

3 eggs (2 for the dough plus 1 for glazing)

grated zest of 1 orange

2 cups flour (I think this is a mistake in the book as I have always found that this recipe takes much more flour at least 2 1/2 cups and often more. You'll know when it's right.)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

hamantashen fillings

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until well blended. Beat in 2 of the eggs and the orange zest, blending thoroughly. Add the dry ingredients and blend the dough until smooth. (This is when I add more flour in.) (If I were adding cocoa, I'd sift it in with the other dry ingredients to prevent clumping.)

Transfer to a floured board and divide the dough into 3 or 4 portions for easier handling. (Set a small bowl of water nearby.) Flatten each portion with the plam of your hand and roll it out 1/4 inch thick. (Quite frankly, the thinner you can roll it, the easier it will be to fold around your fillings without the dough cracking. Think wonton skins.) With a scalloped or plain cookie cutter (or rim of a glass), cut into 2 1/2 inch rounds (Okay, other sizes work well too.) Place a bit of filling in the center of each round (less is more here). (Dip your fingers in the water and run them lightly around the edge of the dough to moisten.) Fold the edges of the dough up over the filling toward the center to form a triangle, pinching & sealing the edges together as you go. Leave a bit of the filling visible in the center. (Just a little bit showing, the hole will expand during baking.)

Place the hamantashen 1/2 inch apart on a parchment lined baking sheet and brush with remaining egg, lightly beaten. Place in preheated 375 oven and bake until golden brown -- 10 - 15 minutes. Cool on racks.

One batch of this recipe easily makes 5-6 dozen.

Edited February 9, 2004 by JFLinLA (log)

[bloviatrix]

1/4 pound unsalted butter or margarine (I can never explain it but margarine makes this easier to handle and which is why we use it for the massive hamantashen assembly line. Please forgive me.)

No need to apologize for the margerine. It's actually the fat I'll be using since I make these pareve.

I've been working with a non-hydrogenated margerine for the past 9 months, but I haven't fully decided whether I like it as much as the Fleishman's I've been using for years. It has a very brittle consistency and doesn't blend as easily. Although I prefer using it due to health issues, I might go with the "bad" stuff because I know what to expect.

What flavored hamentaschen do you make?

[JFLinLA]

What flavored hamentaschen do you make?

Well, let's see . . . there are all the traditional flavors -- poppy, prune, apricot, cherry, etc. -- that I generally use the Solo fillings for given the number of varieties I end up making. I love their almond filling too. Last year for the first time I made a sugarless poppy seed filling substituting barley malt syrup for the honey for use with the yeast dough recipe I like -- hubby can't have sugar and he was thrilled. I always make a pecan caramel filling -- also from the Zeidler book. There's a sweet cheese filling -- like a cheese danish filling that I make with cream cheese that I got from my friend Judy Aaronson who is also the source of the yeast dough recipe. That filling is good on its own or combined with one of the fruit fillings. As stated at the beginning of this thread, I continue to struggle with the chocolate that the kids adore. Sometimes I do a chocolate/peanut butter thing for the Reese's effect. I've used apple butter in the past as well. The possibilities are endless.

Edited February 9, 2004 by JFLinLA (log)

[bloviatrix]

Wow. I'm impressed. The pecan caramel and sweet cheese sound good. (I have a weakness for the sweet cheese filling - give me a cheese danish and I'm a happy girl).

What else do you put in your mishloach manot and how many do you give out?

[JFLinLA]

Wow. I'm impressed. The pecan caramel and sweet cheese sound good. (I have a weakness for the sweet cheese filling - give me a cheese danish and I'm a happy girl).

What else do you put in your mishloach manot and how many do you give out?

Yes, we know about your weakness for sweet cheese filling. Give that cheese latke another try when you can.

Actually, at the end of the days of baking, I don't give out actual misloach manot. The kids take the hamantashen in their lunches and munch on them at home. I bring a big platter of them into the office for all to enjoy and make a point to personally deliver a few to some colleagues around the office who I don't tend to see in meetings regularly. I've been doing this regularly enough that many of my gentile colleagues start asking me around this time of year, "When are you bringing in those triangle thingies?"