Hamantaschen

Hi everyone,

             This past Friday was the Jewish holiday of Purim, so I decided to make these traditional triangular treats.  The word ‘hamantaschen’ is Yiddish, and has many different English spellings.  It means ‘the hat of Haman’ ( I think).  The word for it in Hebrew is ‘Oznei-Haman’ meaning ‘the ears of Haman’.  Haman was a man who was evil to the Jewish people.  That is why we eat his hat (or his ears).  Each cookie has three corners because he wore a three-cornered hat.  The cookie is basically a dough with filling in the middle.  There are traditional fillings, such as strawberry, apricot, or raspberry jam, prunes, poppy seeds, apples, and nuts, and then there are the fillings that I happen to like better such as chocolate(chips), peanut butter, Nutella(for those of you who are unfamiliar with Nutella, it is a chocolate-hazelnut spread), and toffee.  Take your pick.  Or dream up one of your own. 

Here is the recipe:

Hamantaschen(adapted from The Children’s Jewish Holiday Kitchen by Joan Nathan)

Ingredients

2/3 cup (1 1/3 sticks) butter or margarine

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

3 tablespoons milk or water

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 to 3 cups all-purpose flour

fillings of your choice(see above)

Directions

1. Cream butter/margarine and sugar.
2. Add egg and continue stirring until smooth.
3. Stir in milk or water and vanilla.
4. Mix flour in until a ball of dough has formed.
5. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
7. Roll out dough until it is about 1/8 of an inch thick.
8. Use a glass or any circular item with about a 3-inch diameter to cut dough into circles.
9. Place about 1 teaspoon of filling in the center of each circle.
10. Fold the edges over to form 3 sides and pinch the sides so that they stay together.
11. Place cookies on ungreased cookie sheets and bake for about 10 minutes, or until they are a light golden brown.
12. Eat!

Enjoy these cookies!  They are lots of fun to make(and eat!).

Sincerely,

Greengazini

~ by Greengazini on March 24, 2008.