Hamantashen

I have been so busy in the past couple of weeks that my previous blog took me more then 3 weeks to finish! Well, I was helping at the synagogue with Purim Carnival! Wow, that was Fun!

For me Purim always means one thing -Hamantashen. I love that treat and since I was growing up in Soviet Union my knowledge of Jewish traditions stems from my Grandma's culinary creations. There was no Temple, no Sunday religious school and I almost feel jealous of my kids, who can whine on Sunday morning asking me, "Why do we need to go to Hebrew School?" My grandma kept a little bit of Jewish traditions alive with her cooking.
Around Purim every year she made delicious hamantashens - triangular shaped buns filled with poppy seed filling. She made them out of yeast dough and almost always with poppy seeds, although I do remember prune filling, too. Poppy seeds need to be cooked and processed - milled. There was no food processor when I was growing up, we had an old fashion meat grinder, so it was used for a lot of grinding jobs. Cooked poppy seed filling was passed through it before being added to the buns, to make it more refined. Not only did Grandma cooked Jewish foods she went through a lot of headache to get it done. Those machines required assembly but I loved helping in the kitchen. Imagine my surprise when I ate my first hamantash in New York. You know the feeling of wanting something really bad,  like vanilla ice cream, for example, placing your first spoon  in your mouth in anticipation and instead getting mint... - Yuck! Well, that was exactly what I felt when I took a bite of American Hamantash. "Something is seriously wrong", I thought. If they are calling this a hamantash, these are wrong kind of Jews. I could not accept that cookie shaped as a triangle can be mistaken for a hamantash! It was wrong! Well, I have calmed down since then, although in my mind yeast dough Hamantashen is forever the only true kind. These days I bake both kinds and usually only get around to it once a year. That's all that is needed, Purim is but once a year holiday.
This is not my grandma nor my recipe, she died before I learned to cook, but I use it year after year without fail. I simplified the process slightly and made few adjustments, so I guess I can call it my own. The dough is very similar to Hallah dough, except for the milk and butter. Here are my creations from past few years.                                                                               


Yeast dough on top and honey dough on the
bottom. I used guava jam and poppy filling.

 



Yeast Dough:

5 c sifted flour

3/4 c Sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs

2 1/2 tsp yeast

1 c scalded but cooled milk

1 c melted butter (I melt it in the scalded milk and cool milk at the same time)

1 egg wash for brushing on hamantashen

I use my standard Kitchen Aid to make dough and do not dissolve the yeast ahead of time. I add all of the dry ingredients to the bowl (4 cups of flour only), turn on the machine and add eggs and cooled mixture of milk and butter. It is warm to the touch but not hot, so not to kill the yeast. Add remaining cup of flour as needed. Once the dough is formed I cover it in the same mixing bowl and let it rest in the turned off oven but with it's light on. The heat of the light bulb  provided just the right temperature for the dough to proof and rise.  Once it doubled in size, punch it down and roll out. Cut out rounds, fill with and turn upside down to rest while you making the other ones. This lets the seams to stay intact. You have to be careful with poppy seed filling, since it prevents the seems from staying sealed. Bake at 375F for 2--25 min.

Honey dough:
4 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 soft butter
4 eggs
1 c honey
Mix all of the ingredients together until the dough is formed. Roll out and cut out 4 in circles to be filled and shaped into triangles. Bake at 350F for 20 min.

Poppy seed filling for Hamantashen

2 c poppy seeds

1 c milk

3/4 honey

1 tsp grated lemon rind

1/2 raisins

This filling as a bit time consuming, because poppy seeds need to be ground. I'm not sure why, but I'm not able to grind it well in the food processor, and have to use spice grinder. Those are small and have to be don in small batches. I hope your food processor works better. I grind raw seeds but not to complete butter, but almost half way there. The oils in the seeds are like in peanut, can turn your fill into butter. In a sauce pan combine poppy seeds, honey and milk and start cooking the mixture, frequently stirring until it becomes thick. Then add raisins and lemon rind.
I usually do not use apricot jam but use other jams that I have cooked and/or have opened in the fridge. It comes our well always and no one seems to complain. Hope you will try!