Montreal Bagel Hamantaschen
We have a deep love for Montreal bagels with a schmear of cream cheese, so the next logical thing was to turn them into hamantaschen! These feature a honey sweetened dough, as a nod to the honey bath Montreal bagels are boiled in before being baked, that is full of toasted sesame seeds. Folded around a cream cheese filling, these give you the Montreal bagel experience in cookie form!
Ingredients
Dough
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
¾ teaspoons baking powder
¾ cup roasted sesame seeds
½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
¼ cup granulated sugar
⅛ cup honey
1 large egg
3 tbsp milk (dairy or non-dairy)
Filling
8oz / 1 cup cream cheese, room temperature
1 ½ teaspoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg yolk
Pinch of Diamond Crystal kosher salt
directions
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sesame seeds, and salt.
In a medium bowl or in a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add in the egg, mixing until it’s combined. Mix in the honey and milk, until you have a smooth mixture.
Gradually add the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until it’s well incorporated and you have a smooth dough. If the dough isn’t coming together and seems dry, add in a teaspoon of milk, until you have a dough that’s smooth and holds together.
Shape the dough into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.
While the dough is chilling, make the filling. In a medium bowl, mix the cream cheese, unsalted butter, egg yolk, and salt until you have a smooth mixture.
If you’ve chilled your dough for longer than an hour, let the disk of dough sit at room temperature for about 15 – 20 minutes, until it’s slightly softened. This is important because if the dough is too cold, it will crack when you try to roll it out.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Cut the disk of dough in half. Working with one half at a time, lightly dust your work surface with flour to keep the dough from sticking, and roll it out until it’s about ¼ inch thick. Using a 3.5 inch round cookie cutter or glass, cut dough, and, using an offset spatula, place rounds on the prepared baking sheets. Gather the scraps of dough, reroll, and cut out more rounds.
Working three at a time, brush the edges of the rounds with the beaten egg, and place one slightly heaping teaspoon of the cream cheese filling into the center of each round. Fold the rounds into triangles, pressing the corners to seal, leaving some of the filling exposed in the center of the cookie.
Once one baking tray is filled with hamantaschen and place the tray in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. This will prevent the hamantaschen from splitting open as they’re baking.
Repeat with remaining dough.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until the bottoms of the cookies are golden brown. Remove from the oven, and let cool on baking sheets.
Store the hamantaschen in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
