Hamantaschen, Heather Shares Baubie’s
Purim, the Jewish Celebration based on the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible recognizes the spirit of triumph for the Jews from being wiped out by the evil minister of the King named Haman.
The story is quite an exciting one filled with every aspect of the human condition throughout history from power, treachery, and lewd behavior to strength, loyalty and righteousness. Culminating weeks of banquets, feasts, drinking and otherwise, the King dethrones his current Queen and after a thorough review of the kingdoms maidens then chooses Esther to be his Queen.
In the end, a turn of events leads Queen Esther’s adopted father, Mordecai, then recognized for favor by the King for formerly having foiled the plot of his murder, but after the wicked Haman had planned to hang Mordecai on the following day along with then wiping out all of the Jews in the Kingdom.
In the end, Queen Esther announces to the King that she is Jewish and exposes Haman’s plan to kill all of the Jews which then landed Haman hanging in the gallows as he had initially plotted for Mordecai.
Today, one of the celebratory foods associated with Purim is the Hamantaschen cookie. The three corners of the triangular cookie represent the hat of the villain Haman.
Fruits or nuts, prunes, apricots, raisins and dates, are some of the popular fillings among the Purim celebration treat.
Although on the prune, my friend Pat Goodman has a granddaughter who as a young child used to give away all of the Prune Hamantaschen to guests, thus insuring that the other fruit favorites would be plentiful for her own enjoyment at a later date.
Some folks use canned or jarred fruit varieties for the filling but our lucky treat on Spiced Peach Blog today is that Heather, who shared with us her Baubie’s Beef Brisket Recipe in September for Rosh Hashanah has also most graciously shared Baubie’s Hamantaschen Recipe with us today and Baubie’s recipe consists of a real homemade fruit and nut filling.
Baubie’s combination of dried fruits and nuts is heightened by the little added sweet and sour combination of orange juice with pulp, orange marmalade (which is what I used, but the recipe also says you can use apricot jam), and the rind and juice of one whole lemon.
Thank you to Heather for sharing Baubie’s treasured cookies, and also for the thrill of her shared tray delivery to those at the children’s bus stop.
Making the Hamantaschen brought back fond memories of this Purim holiday when my eldest, Sooky the Stylist was little. Somewhere around two years of age I began taking her to one of the little children’s gym and tumble programs. Shortly, both she and I became friends with the other Mom’s and children in the class. As it turned out most of the Moms were Jewish and a few were of mixed interfaith families. As our play date and social engagements grew together, Sooky then began attending the local synagogue pre-school too.
A year later, I was the synagogue pre-school Challah Mom. Yes, that’s right, Challah Mom Peggy heading the weekly Challah Bread Sales as part of the ongoing nursery school fundraiser. I took the weekly orders, collected the money and saw that the Challah bread deliveries went into the designated backpacks of the children, including Sooky, each Friday. Incidentally, this is when I also became inspired to excellent French Toast using Challah bread.
On the fun Purim celebrations at the synagogue pre-school, the children would each dress up in costumes mostly as either Queen Esther or Mordecai, and of course, some of the boys in dark Haman attire along with hat. After the reading from the Book of Esther, and plenty of booing at the mention of Haman, the party commenced then with lots of singing, oh and we will merry, merry be, oh and we will merry, merry be, oh and we will merry merry be, noisemakers in the form of the spinning metal groggers,…and nosh on Hamantaschen.
Hope you will enjoy Baubie’s Hamantaschen recipe from Heather, and plenty of noshing on the traditional, delicious cookies of Purim. And may you too be, merry, merry be.
Hamantaschen, Heather Shares Baubie's
Ingredients
- For the Dough:
- 3 cups flour plus 2 Tablespoons
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg mixed with 1 teaspoon water for egg wash
- For the Fruit and Nut Filling:
- 1 pound dried apricots
- 10 ounce pitted prunes
- 1/2 pound white raisins
- 1/2 pound dates
- 1 cup walnuts, chopped
- 1 rind and juice of lemon
- 3/4 cup orange juice with rind
- 2/3 cup apricot jam or orange marmalade
Instructions
- Preparing the Dough: Lightly sift together 3 cups plus 2 Tablespoons flour, 3 teaspoons of baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Beat 3 eggs together in mixer until pale and thickened
- Add in the sugar and 3/4 cup of oil alternating in three parts
- Add in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Begin adding in the flour mixture, mixing well between each addition in three parts
- Gather the dough out of the mixer and evenly separate into two disks wrapping each in plastic wrap and refrigerating for at least an hour and a half
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
- Dust rolling pin and lightly flour work area
- Roll out one disk at a time to about one eighth inch thickness
- Using a round cookie cutter cut out dough rounds and lay across work area
- Add a teaspoon, approximately, of the fruit and nut mixture into the center of each dough round
- Carefully lift each of the edges folding in three sides to form a triangle making sure to leave the fruit and nut mixture in the center of the cookie exposed
- Brush the top of the dough with the egg wash
- Bake cookies approximately 12-17 minutes to a light golden color.
- Preparing the Fruit and Nut Mixture:
- Chop the walnuts finely, set aside
- Rough chop the apricots, prunes and dates then add to a food processor along with the golden raisins and pulse until the mixture is well ground together, remove mixture to a bowl then stir in the chopped walnuts along with the rind and juice of lemon, 3/4 cup of orange juice with the rind, and 2/3 cup of the orange marmalade or apricot jam, set aside mixture until dough is ready to be rolled and shaped
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