RAINBOW HAMANTASCHEN

RAINBOW HAMANTASCHEN image

Yield 2-3 dozen

Number Of Ingredients 8

Ingredients

2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter or margarine
½ cup sugar
8 oz. coconut milk
6 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
⅛ tsp each red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple gel food coloring
1 egg, whipped (or cold water if you want this recipe to be completely egg free)
1 cup filling of your choice (apricot jam, raspberry preserves, chocolate chips, chocolate hazelnut butter, etc.)

Steps:

In a stand mixer, beat together the margarine and sugar then add the coconut milk and vanilla extract. Once everything is combined, slowly add the flour until the mixture is combined. Divide the dough in to 6 equally sized pieces. Place an ⅛ teaspoon of gel food coloring on to each piece of dough. Wearing gloves, knead each piece of dough to work the color in. Line a 9″x4″ loaf pan with a large piece of plastic wrap that hangs over the edges of the pan then split each piece of dough in half. Starting with one of the red balls, flatten out the piece of dough to the size of the pan with your hands and placed it on the bottom Do the same thing for each remaining color then begin with the red again so you end up with two layers of rainbow dough. Lightly press down on the dough to make sure the layers are all touching. Wrap the dough in the plastic wrap and freeze it for 30 minutes. You can make this dough ahead of time and freeze for up to 3 months. When you are ready to make the hamantaschen, preheated the oven to 375 degrees F. and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove the dough from the freezer and set it on the counter to warm up slightly for 5 minutes. With a sharp knife, slice the rainbow dough into ⅛ inch thick slices. The slices don't have to be perfect but you definitely don't want them to be too thick since each slice will become a hamantaschen. Place the rectangles of rainbow dough on the parchment lined baking sheets. Cut each rectangle with a circle cookie cutter and remove the excess scraps. Fill the center of each rainbow circle with around one teaspoon of the filling of your choice. Brush the edges of the circles with the whisked egg then pinch together the edges to create a triangle. Bake each sheet of hamantaschen for 10-12 minutes, until lightly golden brown on the bottom. Transfer the hamantaschen to a wire rack to cool completely.