Hamantaschen

Hamantaschen...small triangular shaped cookies with fruit filling remind me of Hebrew School many many years ago.  I remember prune and poppy seed being my favorite followed by apricot, and believe I was the only student who didn't like the nontraditional chocolate chip version.  Hamantaschen are made during the holiday of Purim, if I recall correctly a celebration from the book of Esther where the evil Haman planned to kill all the Jews but instead Mordecai came to their rescue.  This day of deliverance is now celebrated with carnivals and kidsdress up like Esther or Mordecai with the courageous ones dressed as Haman or a hamantaschen.  Hamantaschen are triangular in shape and they represent the three pointed hate the Haman wore.  At work this week my team member from Germany told me that taschen means purse or pouch, it made.

Our temple does the most amazing services during this holiday, they write scripts and act them out using themes from things we love like Dr. Seuss, GLEE and most recently, "The Muppets Take Purim". They are quite an amazing group of people.

Anywhooo.......I saw Purim on my Outlook calendar one night while working at home and thought it would be a great idea to make some with my daughter.  Seldom home and often crabby I knew she would be a captive audience since her grounding wasn't up for another two days.  I thought a little bonding and chatting while baking might be one of those memories I could help create, the kind I long for with my own family but can't. It took her a while to get into the rolling of the dough but after an hour or two she actually smiled, teeth and all!  It was a great evening for the both of us and one I hope to make an annual event from here on out.  I tried a new filling this year, almond and WOW were they delicious!  Here is hoe the recipe goes, it is from The Hadassah Jewish Holiday Cookbook I received many years ago from G as a Chanukah present.  It goes a little like this...............

Hamantaschen Dough

3 cups all purpose flour

1 T baking powder

3/4 cup lightly salted butter

2/3 cup sugar

3 eggs plus one to be beaten with 1 T water

1 t vanilla

Filling

I don't do filling.  I want the exact same flavors I had as a child and there is no substitution in my mind for Solo.  You can find it in the baking aisle.

Directions

1. Whisk flour and baking powder
2. In a separate bowl cream butter and sugar
3. Add butter/sugar mixture to flour mixture and combine
4. Add3 eggs and vanilla mixing until dough in formed
5. Refrigerate for at least two hours
6. Roll out to 1/8" thickness
7. Cut into circles.  I use a water glass with approx 3" diameter
8. Place 1 teaspoon filling into center
9. Fold dough and pinch creating a triangle
10. Brush with egg/water mixture
11. Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment
12. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes
13. Let cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.