You say Hamenstashen, we say Pretzeltashen! This year, in honor of Purim, we put our own twist on the classic hamentashen cookie. We used pretzel dough instead of traditional hamenstashen cookie dough (what can we tell you, we’re pretzel obsessed!). Classic hamentashen are sweet cookies often filled with sweet jams or chocolate. They’re usually doughy and thick, and are in the shape of a triangle. We filled our “cookies” with different colored nonpareils, and also dipped them in white chocolate and sprinkles. These are insanely delicious, crunchy and colorful... just like Fatty Sundays pretzels!
Prep time: 3 Hours
Cook time: 40 mins
Total time: 3 Hours, 40 mins
Serves: 12
Pretzeltashen Recipe Ingredients
-1/3 cup warm water
-1/2 teaspoon sugar
-1/2 teaspoon instant yeast or ¾ teaspoon active dry yeast
-1 cup all purpose flour
-1/3 teaspoon salt
-2 cups water (for baking soda bath)
-1 tablespoon baking soda
-Melted butter or egg wash (for brushing on pretzel dough)
-Rock salt or brown sugar
-Chocolate chips, sprinkles or jelly for filling
-Extra chocolate and sprinkles for dipping and decorating
Pretzeltashen Recipe Directions
-To warm water add sugar and yeast and let it rest for 2 minutes. If using active dry yeast, make sure the mixture bubbles before moving to step 3.
-Mix together flour and salt.
-Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture.
-Knead to a smooth and elastic dough.
-Place in an oiled bowl and let it rise for 1-2 hours or until the dough doubles in volume.
-Punch it down and roll it out to a flat sheet.
-Using an inverted water glass or cookie stencil, cut out circle shapes from dough. It should make approximately 12 circles.
-Fold each circle to a triangle shape, pinching corners.
-Place all pretzeltashen on a baking sheet. Preheat oven to 350 F.
-Bring a pot of water to boil and dissolve some baking soda in it.
-Take each pretzeltashen on a slotted spoon. Gently place into the hot water and hold until it drops into the water. Let it boil for 10-20 seconds or until it starts to float. Remove with slotted spoon.
-Place each “cooked” pretzeltashen back onto the same baking sheet.
-Brush each one with melted better or egg wash and sprinkle some rock salt or brown sugar on it.
-Fill centers of dough with chocolate chips, sprinkles, or jelly.
-Bake in a 350 F preheated oven for 40 minutes or until they are hard and crunchy. (Bake for 30 minutes for a softer, chewier version)
-Let it cool for a bit and remove the pretzeltashen.
-If desired, dip some pretzeltashen in melted chocolate and decorate with sprinkles.