Image from SmittenKitchen.
From Wikipedia:
A hamantash is a pastry in Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine recognizable for its three-cornered shape. It is traditionally eaten during the Jewish holiday of Purim. Hamantaschen are made with many different fillings, including prunes, nut, poppy seed, date, apricot, apple, fruit preserves, cherry, chocolate, dulce de leche, halva, or even caramel or cheese.
The name hamantash is commonly known as a reference to Haman, the villain of Purim, as described in the Book of Esther. The pastries are supposed to symbolize the defeated enemy of the Jewish people, and thus resemble the "ears of Haman."
I got hooked on these cookies about four years ago when I needed a little delicacy on a early Spring day while taking my dog for a walk. Local Cincinnati bakeries like Greater's, Busken's and Servatti's serve them during Purim. But since then I became a little let down by the lack of quality fillings — so I here is a recipe for a healthier version.
http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/03/hamantaschen/
http://www.jewishrecipes.org/recipes/purim/hamantaschen/index.html
1 medium seedless orange
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 tsp. baking powder
3 cups flour
Jam or other fillings
Cut the orange into quarters and pulverize it in your food processor until finely chopped. Add the eggs, sugar and oil, and process for about 10 seconds. Add the baking powder and flour and process with several on/off turns, just until the flour is blended into dough. It will be slightly sticky, but that's OK. Cut the dough into 3 or 4 pieces, and work with just one lump at a time.
Roll the dough out on a well-floured board to about 1/8 inch thickness. Using a cookie cutter cut 3-inch circles of dough. In the middle of each circle, put about 1/2 teaspoon of filling: jam, chocolate chips, or even canned pie filling. Pinch the sides of the circle up, making a triangular enclosure, and leaving the top slightly open so that you can see the filling. (Just make sure that the corners are firmly pinched so that the jam doesn't leak out the sides.)
Place cookies on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350º F (180º C) for 15 to 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Makes about 4 dozen hamantaschen.
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2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 tsp. vanilla
Apricot filling Option
1/2 lb. chopped dried apricots
1/4 cup chopped toasted almonds
Zest and juice of one lemon
1 tsp. cinnamon
Honey-nut filling Option
1 cup honey
1 1/4 cups chopped toasted pecans
Zest and juice of one lemon
1 tsp. cinnamon
Makes about 24
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Select a filling option, combine ingredients, and mix well. To prepare dough, mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls and then combine. Mixture will be crumbly and look dry; use hands to form into a lump. Knead a few times on a floured board. Roll out half the dough to about 1/8 inch thick and cut into circles with a cookie cutter. Repeat with remaining dough.
Place a spoonful of filling in the center of each circle and fold dough to form a triangle, covering as much filling as possible. If needed, use a little water to stick edges of dough together. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for about 15 minutes, until edges begin to brown.
alternate spelling: Hamantashen
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1 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup margarine
3 eggs
4 cups flour
1/2 cup orange juice
3 tsps. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 egg, beaten
2 lbs. mohn filling
Cream sugar, oil and margarine. Add eggs and juice and mix well. Blend with dry ingredients and roll into a ball. Divide into four parts. Roll out each piece very thin (approximately 1/8 inch) on a floured board. With the rim of a cup or glass (depending on desired size) cut into the dough to make circles. Place 1/2 to 2/3 teaspoon of filling in the middle of each circle.
To shape into triangle, lift up right and left sides, leaving the bottom side down, and bring both sides to meet at center, above the filling. Lift bottom side up to center to meet other two
sides.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush dough with beaten egg before baking. Place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes.
Some Hebrew schools teach that Hamantaschen are made in the shape of Haman's hat. There is a popular song called Mein Hut der hat drei Ecken:
My hat that has three corners.
Three corners has my hat.
And had it not three corners,
It wouldn't be my hat.
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