Sylvia Lav’s Perfect Hamantaschen

Time 2 to 3 days

Deborah Gardner (for the New York Times)

This recipe makes enough to send out to relatives or feed a large party. You can reduce the recipe. The prune butter also stores well, and the dough works nicely for other pastries.
Ingredients

* For the prune butter:
* 3 pounds pitted prunes, ideally tart ones
* Juice of 1 large lemon (or more if your prunes aren’t tart)
* 2 to 3 tablespoons sugar
* Water
* For the dough:
* 4 cups flour
* 4 eggs
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* A pinch of salt
* 1 cup of oil
* 3 tablespoons of warm water
* Zest of 2 lemons
* 1 cup sugar
* For assembly:
* Melted butter, about one stick
* Extra flour

Method

* For the prune butter:
* 1. Put prunes in large pot. Add lemon juice and sugar.
* 2. In a separate pot, boil water. Pour boiling water over the prunes.
* 3. Cook the prunes on medium heat for 20 minutes. Turn heat off, cover, and let them sit overnight in the pot on the stove.
* 4. The next morning, beat the prunes in a mixer on low until they form a smooth mixture, with no pieces of skin visible. The consistency should be a smooth enough purée that it can drop off a spoon.
* --
* For the dough:
* 5. Make a pile of flour, baking powder and salt. Dig a well into the middle.
* 6. Put two eggs in the middle with half the oil and water, half the sugar, and half the lemon rind. Do not break the flour walls.
* 7. With a fork, use gentle circular motions to mix flour into the middle from the walls while keeping the walls solid.
* 8. Gradually, very slowly, add the rest of the eggs, oil, water, sugar and lemon rind until everything is mixed in. Finally, mix in the rest of the walls. Your dough will be very sticky. Use a dough scraper to scrape it up. Knead it with small dustings of flour (not too much extra!) until you get a nice, silky dough. Wrap it up in waxed paper and put it in the fridge overnight.
* --
* Assembly:
* 9. Cut the dough into three segments. On a floured surface, roll out one segment evenly to about 1/8" thick.
* 10. Melt some butter in a dish and set aside with a pastry brush.
* 11. Dip an inverted glass or 2- or 3-inch-diameter glass or cookie cutter into flour and use it to cut as many circular pieces of dough as possible, re-dipping into flour as needed. Paint an X of melted butter onto the center of each circle with the brush.
* 12. Using two teaspoons, place a small amount of prune butter in the center of each circle, on top of the butter. If you use too much they will fall apart.
* 13. Lift up the edges of the circle so they form a triangle. Gently pinch each corner closed.
* 14. Bake at 375 degrees for about 12 minutes. The corners should be just slightly golden-brown. Watch them near the end because they go from golden to burnt very easily.