1 For the dough, in a mixer bowl, cream the shortening and sugar. Add eggs and blend until smooth. (If mixture is hard to blend or seems curdled, add a bit of the flour to bind it). 2 Stir in orange juice or milk and vanilla. Fold in flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder and mix to make a firm but soft dough. Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface and pat into a smooth mass. Cover and let rest ten minutes. Divide dough into two or three flattened disks. 3 Work with one portion at a time. Wrapped in plastic, dough can be refrigerated for 2-3 days. If refrigerating, allow dough to warm up before rolling out.4 For the Apple Pie Filling, place the dried apples in a saucepan and add the apple juice or water, lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon. Simmer to soften apples, 5-10 minutes, and then stir in diced apples, and cook to soften apples, 5 minutes, and then stir in cornstarch mixture to thicken. Remove from the heat and cool thoroughly before using as filling.5 Preheat oven to 350 F. Stack two baking sheets together and line top one with parchment paper.6 For the hamantashen, roll dough out on a well –floured work surface just under 1/4 inch into 3-4 inch circles. Brush with egg wash, fill center with 2 teaspoons of filling and seal as for hamantashen. Brush outsides with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Bake until edges start to brown, about 25-30 minutes.

Apples and spice – what a winning combination for a refreshing new hamantashen variety. One of our visitors (called Mr. Appel, appropriately enough) asked about the possibility and the good baker, as is her wont, responded. You can use canned apple pie filling (just make the apple pieces smaller by dicing finer –messy but important) or your own apple filling with the recipe here. Either approach will give you orchard-fresh hamantashen.

Source:

BetterBaking.com