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Heavenly Hamentashen
I know I published this Hamantaschen recipe back in 2014 and again in 2018. But…it is time once again to make these. Purim is March 2-3 this year and commemorates the survival and strength of the Jewish people, and reminds us to stand up for human rights and injustice. A pretty timely message!
I have a batch of dough, some fruit filling, and some poppyseed filling in my refrigerator as I type this, and I plan to make these with my 10 year old granddaughter Ora. For the record, I am an equal opportunity grandmother and cook with the grandsons too – the grandboys outnumber the grandgirls 7 to 3!
Straight Out of the Oven
Every time I make these, I think about my Aunt Esther and Aunt Tillie, who kept these cookies in a jar on the counter most of the year. They were so quirky, they did not have children of their own and when the 5 of us kids drove to their house 5 hours away, they were happy to see us but shocked at the chaos.
I think a lot of memories we leave on earth reside in the special foods we make for family and friends. Hamantaschen cookies always trigger happy thoughts of my adorable aunties. Bake on!
Aunt Tilly’s and Aunt Esther’s Fruit Hamantaschen
Makes approximately 30-40 cookies
Pastry Dough Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup canola oil
- 1 Tbsp fresh orange juice
- ½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
- Rind of one medium orange, grated
- Dash of salt
- 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp. non aluminum baking powder
Filling Ingredients
- 12 ounces dried California apricots, dice in food processor or by hand
- 12 ounce pitted prunes, dice in food processor or by hand
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/3 cup apricot or other flavor jam (don’t use sugar free)
Pastry Dough Instructions
NOTE: I know I talk about playing with recipes from time to time… but FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS for good results!
Combine flour with baking powder, salt and orange rind. Using a food processor or heavy mixer, mix eggs, oil, orange juice, sugar and vanilla. Gradually add dry ingredients. The dough will be soft. Scrape it into an oiled bowl and cover with saran; refrigerate the dough overnight so it firms up.
Filing Instructions
Dice prunes and apricots, stir in jam and cinnamon to combine. This fruit filling will be thick.
Assembly Instructions:
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or lightly oil them. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and adjust so the cookie sheets fit on the middle racks.
Divide dough into 4 pieces and keep it refrigerated except for the piece you’re rolling. Roll each quarter of dough on a lightly floured board or pastry cloth into a 1/8” thickness. Using the top of a 4” glass dipped in flour, cut out circles.
Put a heaping teaspoon (walnut size) of the fruit filling in the center of each cookie, and pinch the dough around it so it forms a triangular shape. You can recombine the scraps of dough and roll them again to form additional circles. Refrigerate the filled cookies for 15 minutes on the parchment lined sheet before baking so they hold their shape a little better.
A Dollop of Fruit Filling
Bake for 15-20 minutes until nicely brown. Cool on rack. These can be frozen between layers of waxed paper for up to three months.
Notes: I have a really cute circular ruffled cookie cutter that I used for these cookies – it makes them look a little fancy when I am in that kind of mood. And from time to time, I fill the hamentashen with a nice thick poppyseed filling…next year I might share that recipe too!! At times I have rolled the dough much tinned which yielded many more cookies, but thicker dough seems to hold the cookies better-otherwise they seem to “flop” over and they aren’t so pretty
