Buttery Poppy Seed Hamantaschen

Ingredients
COOKIES:
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp grated lemon zest (i used lemon instead of orange bc david doens't like orange)
2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1-5 tsp water (if needed)

FILLING:
8 oz whole unground poppy seeds (1 1/2 cups-- this is over 2 spice jars so get it in bulk!)
.5 sticks of unsalted butter
1 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs, beaten


1. Slice 1.5 sticks of butter into chunks and put in kitchen aid
2. Add 2/3c sugar and cream
3. Add 1 egg, 1 t vanilla, 1 t lemon zest and beat.
4. Add 2.25 c flour and .25 t salt. Stir by hand (otherwise will get a poof with the kitchen aid) until incorporated and then mix until a crumbly dough is formed. Don't overwork.
5. Form into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap or put in a tight tupperware and chill in fridge for 3 hrs to overnight. (THIS IS A GOOD TIME TO MAKE THE FILLING)
6. Roll out on floured surface until 1/4 in thick
7. Flip over and keep rolling until 1/8 in thick
8. Use a 3 in biscuit cutter (a WIDE mouth mason jar is precisely 3 inches) to cut out dough in circles. (re roll and recycle old dough obviously)
9. Spoon 1 t filling into each cookie
10. Fold into triangles as directed below in otherwebsite
11. Bake on cookie sheet at 350 for about 15-20 min but watch em bc they burn fast.

Filling
1. You're supposed to grid the poppy seeds but i just skip it bc my spice grinder always smells like chilies and indian spices
2. Melt .5 sticks of butter in sauce pan on medium
3. Add 1 c milk, 3/4 c sugar, 1/4 c honey, 1/4 t salt. Stir until dissolved
4. Beat eggs in a medium heat proof bowl. Scoop out hot butter/sugar mixture and slowly drizzle 1 cup into the eggs while beating to temper (I use the 1/4 c measure bc it's dirty anyway).
5. Slowly add all the egg mixture back to the hot sauce pan
6. Cook while whisking for 3-5 more minutes until the mixture thickens to cover the back of a spoon and turns lighter yellow



Adapted from:
https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/buttery-hamantaschen/