Chocolate Hamantaschen

1. 1

   To make the cookie dough, put the oat and rice flours, sugar, salt, and baking soda in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pulse to blend. Add the butter, cream cheese, egg, and vanilla. Process until well blended: The mixture may come to a ball before it begins to spread out again in the bowl. The dough will be very soft and sticky.

2. 2

   Scrape half of the dough onto a sheet of parchment paper and spread it roughly. Cover with a large sheet of plastic wrap. Use a rolling pin and very gentle pressure to roll and smooth it to an even thickness of 1/8-inch. Slide the dough (including the parchment and the plastic wrap) onto a baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight. Repeat with the remaining dough and slide it on top of the first piece.

3. 3

   Meanwhile, to make the filling, melt the butter with the unsweetened chocolate in a stainless steel bowl set directly in a wide skillet of almost simmering water. Stir frequently until the mixture is melted and smooth. Remove the bowl from the skillet. Stir in the sugar, vanilla, and salt. Stir the eggs in one at time. Stir in the rice flour. Stir briskly with a spatula until the mixture is thick and smooth and glossy pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Let cool. Stir in the chocolate chips. Refrigerate until needed.

4. 4

   Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 325u00b0 F.

5. 5

   Remove one sheet of dough from the fridge. Flip it parchment side up. Peel off the parchment and place it on the counter next to the dough. Grasp the plastic wrap and flip the dough back onto the parchment. Peel off the plastic wrap. Working quickly, cut out 3-inch or 2 1/2 -inch cookies and place them 1/2 inch apart on the lined pans. (If the dough becomes too soft to handle, slide it onto a pan and return to the fridge to firm up.) For 3-inch cookies, scoop and place a heaping (13-gram) teaspoonful of filling in the center of each cookie; for 2 12-inch cookies use a rounded teaspoon (11 grams). Bring 3 sides of each cookie up to partially cover the filling and press the edges together to seal them-the dough is quite sticky so that the seam will not open up in the oven! If the dough gets too soft to handle, put the pan in the fridge to firm it up. Repeat with the second sheet of dough.

6. 6

   Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cookies are golden brown. Rotate the pans from top to bottom and front to back about halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking.

7. 7

   While the cookies are baking, press all of the dough scraps together and reroll them between parchment and plastic wrap. Chill until firm enough to cut and fill. Since there is no gluten in the dough, you can reroll scraps as many times as you like without making the cookies tough.

8. 8

   Set the pans, or just the liners on rack to cool. I like to serve them with a little nutmeg grated directly over the top. Cool cookies completely before stacking of storing. Cookies are best on the day they are made, but they keep for 2 to 3 days in an airtight container.

* Per serving · 4 servings · Values may vary.