Apricot, Peach & Blackberry Hamantaschen
It’s been pretty busy around here and I haven’t had much time for blogging, but Purim begins this Saturday evening so I just had to pull away from my studies. The result? Hamantaschen!
Purim is a Jewish holiday that I’ve often heard described as “the Jewish Halloween.” That’s not quite accurate, but there are certainly similarities. Celebrants dress in costumes, attend parties, eat sweets and drink wine. Even synagogue services take on a boisterous flare as congregants hiss and rattle noisemakers when the name “Haman” is mentioned. The holiday has its origins in the biblical Book of Esther. According to the Bible, Esther was a beautiful Jewish woman living in Persia who was taken to the house of Ahasuerus, the King, to become part of his harem. Eventually she became his Queen, but when her cousin, Mordecai, told her of a plot to kill all the Jews in Persia she became a heroine too. After fasting for three days and making herself look even more beautiful, she visited the king without being invited – an act punishable by death – and told him of the plot. The man behind the sinister scheme was named Haman, and he harbored a particular hatred for Jews in general and for Mordecai in particular – but he didn’t know that Esther was also Jewish. Esther’s place at court allowed her to save her people, and Haman was hanged on the gallows that had been prepared for her cousin.
“Hamantaschen” is a Yiddish word that literally means “Haman’s Pockets” and in German “taschen” can also mean “cookie.” According to legend Haman wore a triangular hat, so eating hamantaschen is a way of celebrating how the Jewish people overcame his villainy. Traditional fillings are made from poppy seeds or prunes, but can also include nuts, cheese, dates, apricots and chocolate. The hamantaschen pictured here feature fruit preserves: apricot, peach, blackberry and strawberry. I also made another batch of cookies filled with Nutella. 
Hamantaschen are very easy to make and would probably be a great baking project for small children because after the dough has been rolled out and cut into circles the edges are folded over whatever filling you have placed in the center. I don’t have children of my own yet, but I imagine adding the filling and folding the edges would be a good way to keep little fingers busy for a while!
Hamantaschen
Note: If you want to make nondairy hamantaschen you can replace the butter with shortening or with nondairy margarine.
Ingredients: Makes about 3 dozen cookies
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter or margarine
- 1 1/4 cups sugar + a pinch for the egg wash
- 3 eggs + 1 for the egg wash
- 1/4 cup orange juice or milk (I used orange juice)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Approximately 4 to 4 1/2 cups of flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- Fruit preserves. (Not jam.) You can also use Nutella.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a mixing bowl, cream the shortening, butter and sugar together. Add the eggs and blend until smooth. If the mixture is too hard to blend or seems curdled, add about 1 tbs of flour to bind it.
Stir in the orange juice or milk and the vanilla. Fold in 4 cups of flour, salt and baking powder. Mix to make a firm but soft dough. Cover and let the dough rest for 10 minutes to give the flour time to absorb all the moisture. If the dough is too sticky to handle after ten minutes have passed, add extra flour up to 1/2 cup. The dough will be sticky when it’s ready, but you should be able to handle it without it getting stuck to your fingers.
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide the dough into 2 or 3 flattened discs and work with one portion at a time. Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured board to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Use a 3-inch cookie or biscuit cutter and cut as many rounds as you can.
In a small bowl mix 1 egg, 1 tablespoon of water and a pinch of sugar to make an egg glaze. Brush the rounds with the wash, then fill each with a generous 1/2 teaspoonful of your desired filling. Fold 3 sides of each circle together, creating triangles. I like to leave a little space in the center so you can see what the filling is (plus it looks pretty), but you can also seal your hamantaschen completely.
Brush the cookies with additional egg wash. If desired, sprinkle with regular or coarse sugar, and bake in the center of the preheated oven until golden brown, 18 to 25 minutes. Cool on the baking sheets.
Tips: Bake your hamantaschen in the upper third of the oven – usually the bottom part of the oven is too hot and may also cause premature bottom-browning. If you want to use leftover scraps to make more cookies, only roll them out once more because a lean dough like this one can only be rolled a couple times before becoming really tough.
This dough can be frozen for about 2 months or refrigerated (wrapped well in plastic) for one to three days. Just give it time to warm up before rolling it out. You can also freeze or refrigerate the filled triangles before baking. If you do this, just bake them without defrosting.
This recipe is from: A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking by Marcy Goldman.
21 Responses to “Apricot, Peach & Blackberry Hamantaschen”
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I remember my grandmother making dozens of prune hamantaschen when I was a little girl. She never made any other kind of filling, only prunes. Yours look so beautiful with the different types of fillings!
Yumm those cookies look delicious.
Beautiful picture! They are so colorful and sparkly!
The cookies look delicious. I was reading along, thinking how cool it was to learn about traditions of other faiths, loving the recipe…and then I read that I could substitute Nutella. Chocolate…mmmm. (I get all caveman about Nutella.)
I love the story of Esther. And your Hamantaschen look delicious! Absolutely!
Best,
Paz
Ari,
I hope you get less busy soon, because it’s so hard for us to be without your delicious posts!
These cookies are lovely, I love the color of the filling, so vibrant!
Ari,
I have always wanted to make these!
They’re gorgeous!
Ari, beautiful cookies! So sweet the way they’re shaped!
These are definitely going on my baking list. They look delicious!
I love that you include a story about your recipe. That is really cool.
mmmm those look good may have to try that recipe:)
Those are so pretty! And this is the third blog in a row I’ve read about these cookies. Not surprisingly, I’d never heard of them. But they’re such … jewels!
I’d been planning on making hamentaschen this year (before I moved I’d just always buy them from my favorite kosher bakery), but hadn’t looked for a recipe yet…well, when your recipe popped up on my RSS reader on Friday, I dropped everything and started baking! I followed the recipe as written and they turned out perfectly. To those who try this, be sure to check at the minimum baking time because they were done for me then, and these are cookies you don’t want to overbake. Thanks for the great recipe!
Pocketnovel – I’m glad I could deliver a hamantaschen right to your virtual doorstep! And I’m especially happy to hear that you enjoyed the recipe, thank you for letting me know.
Lidia – My grandmother never made hamantaschen but if she had I think she would have filled them with apricot preserves because she had a tree growing in her backyard.
Jennifer – They are!
Anali – I really like how the preserves take on a glassy sheen, that’s one of the main reasons I leave the tops open.
Susan – Nutella is one of my best friends and one of my worst enemies. Best friend because it tastes good with so many things, enemy because I want to eat it all the time!
Paz – Glad you liked it. At synagogue this morning all the kids were shaking grogers (noise makers) like crazy, it was so much fun.
Patricia – I hope so too, I want to blog more! I’m crossing my fingers that things will settle down by the 14th, which is when my last midterm is due.
Ivonne – They’re a lot of fun to make, I would love to see what you do with them!
Tanna – Thank you.
Ruth L – I’m happy you liked the story, I also like it when food comes with a bit of history behind it. (As all food does when you think about it!)
Kaylee – If you do let me know, I love hearing how things turn out. :love:
Abby – Yea I imagine hamantaschen are making the foodblog rounds, I just couldn’t resist being one of them, hehe. I hope you try them sometime!
Those biscuity things look great and I bet they would be easy to make with kids too.
Mmmm….Those look simply divine
What I wouldn’t give to sample some of your cooking 
Oh! These look wonderful Ari! I wish I had seen them before Purim but I think it’s ok to make Hamantaschen after it’s already past anyways. It’s always a good time for yummy cookies.
Hi Ari – these are too cute! I’m lovin’ the Nutella idea too…
Ari I made these and they came out GREAT!!! Woohoo!! I’ve never made cookies that “look” so complicated but are so easy to put together, thanks for the great recipe.
Wish I had some of these for my breakfast this morning!
Thanks Ari – I made these today and they are perfectly delicious, I will keep this recipe for next Purim.