Guest Recipe: Grandma Rose’s Hamantashen

Hamantashen
Image by stu_spivack via Flickr

Thanks to Norma for sending in this recipe. Purim, the Jewish holiday celebrated this Saturday evening through evening. Hamantashen are meant to remind us of the three-cornered hat supposedly worn by Haman, the villain in the biblical book of Esther that will be read in the synagogue.

Hamantashen are made from any kind of rollable cookie dough. Cut the dough into circles, then fill and pinch into a triangle shape so the filling shows through on top.

This Hamentaschen recipe comes from Grandma Rose. The cookie is based on a classic sour cream cookie— light and airy. It’s one of the few Hamentaschen recipes where you actually enjoy eating the cookie that surrounds the filling! I sometimes make the cookie dough and leave the rounds plain.

Makes 2-3 dozen.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup butter or margarine
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 cup yogurt or sour cream
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 2/3 cups flour

Instructions:

  1. Cream butter and sugar together.
  2. Add liquid ingredients and mix thoroughly.
  3. Mix in dry ingredients.
  4. Divide dough in half and chill for at least 30 minutes in the freezer or 1 hour in the fridge. Can be kept in the fridge overnight, too, wrapped tightly to keep out the air. [Note: I store dough in a plastic, covered container.]
  5. Work with half the dough at a time, and keep the rest cool.
  6. Roll to about a 1/4 inch thick (6mm) and cut into 3-inch rounds (7.5 cm). A floured drinking glass rim works well.
  7. Fill the center with a teaspoon of your favorite topping (poppy seed, apricot, or chocolate with orange marmalade – my favourite!).
  8. Dampen the edges with water and then crimp to form triangles.
  9. Bake 8-10 minutes at 350 F° (180 C°). Check for a golden brown bottom to see if they are done — the tops will stay pale.

Enjoy!

Thank you, Norma, for sharing! I welcome guest recipes from readers.

If you enjoyed this post you may also like:

Sweet Bread Pudding

Easy Stuffed Cabbage

11 Tips for Painless Kitchen Cleanup

Comments

  1. Can you suggest what changes can be made for a pareve version? I routinely use soy milk for regular milk, but what can I use that is equivalent to sour cream or yogurt?

    also, (not related to this post), I would also like to see a post about serving whole fish or fish slices with bones. My family will not touch them, which means that I can only make fish fillet which is obviously much more expensive. But perhaps worth it if there’s no waste and it gets eaten?

  2. I wouldn’t try to convert it, but look for a different recipe based on oil and juice. Here’s one I just made: http://www.amotherinisrael.com/2007/02/25/oil-based-hamantashen-dough/
    Another reader also asked for post about serving fresh fish. I had thought that cooking it would be more intimidating. It’ll have to wait till I next get to the shuk.

  3. Looks totally great – thank you!

  4. Shalom and Brachot.
    Please could you advise on the making of the poppy seed and chocolate-marmalade fillings for Grandma Rose’s Hamantaschen? I am a novice baker.
    Thank you very much, and be well.
    Aryeh, Johannesburg

  5. Aryeh, I usually use a can of the Solo brand poppy seed filling. If you would like to make your own, there is a good recipe here:
    http://www.caryn.com/holiday/purim/poppy_seed_hamantashen_recipe.html
    If you are making a pareve pastry, use apple or orange juice instead of the milk, and either oil or pareve margarine instead of the butter. However, the recipe would not suffer it you left out the fat altogether.

    For the chocolate-marmalade filling, start with a dab of orange marmalade in each cut-out circle of pastry. (Raspberry jam or preserves are delicious with chocolate too!)
    Then place a Hershey’s Kiss (certified OUD kosher) in the center. If you prefer, use a small piece of Chalav Yisroel chocolate instead.
    Dampen the outer edge of the pastry circle with your finger dipped into water and pinch it into a triangular shape.
    Bake as directed 🙂

    Hope this helps, norma

  6. Thanks, Norma, for your pithy comments.

Trackbacks

  1. […] Grandma Rose’s Hamantaschen, a recipe at CookingManager […]