Hamantashen Twist

There is a lot of Purim prep going on in our house this week and I ran out of time to tell you about the weekly Portion - so instead I'm going to share my twist on hamantashen this year.

Sam and I are dressing up as Iron Chef America cast members Alton Brown and Cat Cora and our Mishloach Manot (gift baskets delivered to friends on Purim) are themed with the secret ingredient of chocolate. You may have noticed that bacon showed up in a lot of desserts on cooking shows this year - well I've found a kosher way of putting them into hamatashen.

This year I stuffed my mini hamatashen with nutella and kosher imitation bacon bits (which I usually use to sprinkle over salad). They have a great combination of salty, smokey, nutty, sweet tastes.

"Bacon" Chocolate Hamantashen
I like to cut mini hamantashen with the mouth of a shot glass - when there are so many versions of hamantashens to be eaten it's nice to have bite sized ones.

2/3 cup of butter or non dairy buttery sticks
1/2 cup of sugar
1 egg
3 tbsp orange juice
1/2 tsp of vanilla
3 cups of flour
Nutella
Bacos (fake bacon bits)

Cream the butter with sugar and egg until smooth. Add the orange juice and vanilla. Stir in the flour until a ball forms. Wrap in saran wrap or keep in covered bowl and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Roll out the dough and cut into circles with a shot glass (or a regular sized glass if you prefer).

Drop a 1/4 tsp of nutella in the middle of each dough circle. Sprinkle the mound of chocolate with a pinch or two of bacos. Dip your finger in water and run it around the outer edge of the hamatashen to help it stay closed and then pinch three corners.

Put on a silpat lined baking sheet and bake for ten minutes or until golden. Cool on a wire rack and wait to eat or you'll burn your tongue on the jam.