This year from the evening of Wednesday, March 20 until nightfall on March 21 Jews all over the world will celebrate the festival of Purim. The story of this holiday is found in the Old Testament Book of Esther. As with any Jewish holiday, special foods are consumed as part of the celebration. Haman, the villain, has prominence in this area and, depending on where in the world you are, various parts of him are consumed in symbolic triangular goodies. You can learn more about hamentaschen here.

PRUNE HAMENTASCHEN

FILLING

6 oz pitted prunes, soaked in hot water and drained
1 ½ oz raisins
1 small apple, peeled and grated (use a sweeter variety like Fuji)
lemon juice to taste
½ tsp cinnamon or to taste
¼ tsp vanilla

Combine the filling ingredients in bowl of food processor. Pulse to chop the fruit and combine well without making a smooth purée. Set aside.

DOUGH

2 ½ C flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
1 C unsalted butter, softened
2/3 C sugar
2 eggs, one whole and one separated
1 tsp vanilla
Small bowl of water for brushing inside edges of dough
Reserved egg white for brushing outside of hamentaschen
Turbinado or demerara sugar for sprinkling

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or grease them lightly.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Using a hand mixer with a medium bowl, or in bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until well-combined.

In a small bowl beat together the whole egg, yolk and vanilla. Add to the butter mixture and beat well.

Gradually add combined dry ingredients to make a soft dough. Divide dough into 2 balls, flatten and chill, covered, for at least 30 minutes.

Place rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 350° (325° convection).
On a lightly floured surface roll out one ball of dough to ⅛” thickness. Cut out 3-4” diameter circles. (I used a cutter about 3.5”. A scalloped cutter is a nice choice but not necessary.)  Remove dough between rounds and save to re-roll. Put dough rounds on prepared cookie sheet. If they seem a bit too soft for shaping into triangles, place sheet in refrigerator for a few minutes.

 

Place a rounded teaspoon of filling on each dough circle. Brush around the filling lightly with water. Fold and pinch the dough in three places to form a triangular pastry, leaving some of the filling visible in the center.

Lightly brush the sides and tops of the pastries with the reserved egg white and sprinkle with the coarse sugar. (I only did this for part of the hamentaschen, unfortunately forgetting to photograph the glazed ones after they were baked.)

Bake 20 minutes (15 minutes for convection) or until firm and lightly brown around the edges.  While first ones bake, repeat shaping rest of hamentaschen with remaining dough. Remove baked hamentaschen on their parchment to cool on a rack. When cool, store in a closed container for consumption within a day or freeze and defrost for later enjoyment. The pastries may be reheated at 300° for about 5 minutes to crisp them up a little. Thaw frozen pastries before heating them to refresh if necessary.

POSTSCRIPT

This recipe is a composite of one from our synagogue’s first sisterhood cookbook and some suggestions from our son, David, who is a great hamentaschen baker.

Besides making and sharing special foods, dressing up in costume is part of the celebration enjoyed by people of all ages. Below are our now-grown-up children as King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther from the Purim story and a snapshot of me (on the right) with two other aspiring actresses in a Sunday school Purim play.