I definitely grew up in a Jew-ish household. I learned how people celebrated the Jewish holidays from reading the The All-of-a-Kind Family books by Sydney Taylor. This won’t be a surprise to anyone whose been playing along with me for a while, but the only way I really knew it was a Jewish holiday was thanks to food that appeared in my house.
And no, it wasn’t paper-flavored matzoh that signalled Passover. My father bought Brach’s chocolate matzoh. It wasn’t even chocolate-covered matzoh, but chocolate that was shaped like matzoh, with crushed hazelnuts in it. We maybe once had frozen hash browns for Hanukkah, but there were always Hamantaschen for Purim. Not because of some long-standing memory my dad had, but because he liked cookies with jam in them.
I was encouraged to create this recipe by a reader who had a fond memory of soft, delicate Hamantaschen she and her husband loved when they lived in the northeast. All they can find in their current neck of the woods is harder and more shortbread-like, so I set to work testing recipes.
The recipe that follows is indeed soft and almost cake-like. The most important thing to know about making hamantaschen is they are much, much easier to make than they look.
The video gives step-by-step directions for shaping them.
There’s been a bit of a raging debate on my Twitter feed about the best Hamantaschen filling. My brother David is adamant that apricot is the one and only. Others believe that without poppy seeds it can’t call itself a Hamantaschen.
I am an equal opportunity cookie filler, with a leaning towards raspberry, apricot or Nutella. I’ve included a recipe for apricot lekvar, which is a basically a homemade jam made from dried apricots. You can also substitute prunes for another classic filling known by the incredibly adorable name: powidl.
What follows is a list of possibilities, some thanks to my Twitter friends, others caused by random thoughts I had:
peanut butter and jelly
miniature Reese’s peanut butter cup
spiced fig jam
spiced fig jam and goat cheese
brie and caramellized onions
lemon curd
orange marmalade (dipped in chocolate)
chocolate chips
almond butter
sweet potato butter (or pie filling)
cherry preserves
Sub dried apples in the apricot lekvar recipe and mix with spices and nuts (recipe follows)
Hamantaschen
These are tender, thanks to egg yolks and confectioners’ sugar.
What You’ll Need:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
3/4 teaspoons salt
8 ounces cold butter, cut into 16 pieces
3 egg yolks (2 for the dough and 1 yolk for the egg wash)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract (or almond extract)
Apricot lekvar,** or fillings of your choice
What You’ll Do:
In a food processor, blend the flour, confectioners’ sugar and salt until well-blended.
Add the butter and process until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Add the egg yolks and and pulse until crumbly. Give the bowl a scrape. Pulse a few more times until the dough begins to come together in chunks. Don’t overprocess. Dump the contents onto a pastry board or clean counter that has been lightly dusted with flour and knead a few seconds until the mixture just comes together. Divide the dough in two, shape each into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate one hour or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
On a floured cutting board, roll the dough 1/8”thick. Using a 3” circular cookie cutter (you can use a glass if you don’t have a cutter that size), cut out 12 rounds and place on the cookie sheet.
Beat the remaining egg yolk. Brush each round of dough with egg wash. I am lazy and brush the entire round, but you can be precise and just do the edges.
Dollop a scant one teaspoon of filling into the middle of the dough.
Resist the urge to add more unless you are going for lava-like Hamantaschen.If you imagine the circle is a clock, bring the 10 and the 2 together and pinch. Then pinch the 3 and 6 together, and then bring the remaining two pieces together. Make sure the edges are well-sealed across the seam and all the way to the pointy edge to prevent leaks. Remember to leave an opening on top so your lovely filling shines through.
Bake for 10-13 minutes, rotating halfway through. They should be ever-so-slightly yellow-golden.
Let cool. Repeat and repeat.
Apricot Lekvar
What You’ll Need
1 pound dried apricots
1/2 cup sugar (or to taste)
Zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon lemon juice
What You’ll Do:
Put the apricots in a saucepan and add enough water just to cover. Simmer uncovered over medium heat for 15 minutes. Add water if necessary to keep the apricots covered.
Puree the mixture in a blender, a food processor or with an immersion blender. Please be careful because it will be a hot mixture, and I don’t want you to burn yourselves, ok? I worry. I can’t help that. It comes with the territory.
Return the mixture to the pan, add the sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice and cook over low heat, stirring constantly until thickened. This stuff likes to burn if you look away. It’s needy. You’ll know it’s done when a spoonful of the lekvar takes a few seconds before it drops from the spoon.
Scrape into a bowl or clean jar to cool. It will keep for a few weeks in the refrigerator, or can be frozen for 6 months, well-wrapped.
Feel free to subsitute prunes for apricots.
If you want to try an apple mixture, substitute dried apples. Feel free to use a blend of apple cider and water to rehydrate the apples. Puree. Add spices like cinnamon or ginger and lemon zest during the thickening stage. A splash of Calvados wouldn’t go amiss. Adding minced walnuts or hazlenuts would be nice.
In other news: I had a great time as a guest on Mary Trump’s first-ever live podcast, along with the great and wonderful Jennifer Taub and E. Jean Carroll. You can listen to it here
And please consider helping out those in need by giving to a local food bank, World Central Kitchen or to moas.eu, which helps migrants from Ukraine and across the globe.
Keep the debate a-raging. What do you like in your hamataschen?
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