Hamantaschen are triangular pastries filled with whatever you can imagine. Haman is the villain of the Purim story, the guy who was planning to massacre the Jews. Apparently, he had triangular ears, because hamantaschen translates to "ears of Haman". There are also theories that the triangular shape represents the pyramidal shape of the dice cast by Haman to determine the day of destruction for the Jews, or that he wore a silly three-cornered hat. It's also quite possible that it's just a version of the Yiddish word montashn or the German word mohntaschen, both of which are poppy seed filled pouches.
Regardless of the etymology, hamantaschen bring back wonderful memories for me. I have no idea how many cookies my mother baked every Purim, but every surface in our kitchen and dining room was filled with cooling hamantaschen of every flavor, like a colorful mosaic of pastry. She was kind enough to provide me with her recipe, which creates the most delicious, delicate hamantaschen you will ever taste. I have to lie whenever I eat someone else's hamantaschen - they are just not as good. I never have and never will use another recipe.
I completely forget the name of the book, but growing up, I had a book of Jewish stories about a boy who was three inches tall [edited to add: my mother has informed me that the boy's name is K'Tonton]. There was a story for every holiday, and in the Purim story, the boy falls into a bowl of honey. I remember this story because his mother was making poppy seed filling for hamantaschen, something that I dreamed of when I was a kid. As good as my mother's hamantaschen are, she always brought home canned fillings from the store. I now live in an area where I cannot find those cans, so I decided to live my childhood fantasy and make some poppy seed filling from scratch. I do not regret this decision. It's less sweet than my childhood memory, a real treat for my (more or less) grown up tastes.
You can fill hamantaschen with just about anything. I went through a phase when I put chocolate chips in everything, and so, chocolate chip hamantaschen were born. I've tried cream cheese and blueberry pie filling, and I have to tell you, the classics are classic for a reason. You want your fillings to be firm - a watery filling will make the hamantaschen fall over while baking. Jams work best, as well as the ever popular poppy seed. I've also become quite fond of Nutella in the past few years, as it's more stable than chocolate chips.
A Purim tradition is to gift friends and family with treats, which is why our house was full of them. They went out the door to neighbors, coworkers, classmates, friends. This year, I baked up a batch, and out they went again, as fast as anyone could snatch them up. I challenge you to make a few dozen and not see them gone by the close of Purim.
Hamantaschen Dough
Makes about 3 dozen
1/2 c vegetable shortening
1 c sugar
2 eggs
3 t baking powder
3 c flour
1 t vanilla
1/4 c orange juice
fillings
Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs. Shift baking powder and flour together, and mix vanilla and juice. Add alternatively to the shortening mixture.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Flour a surface, and roll dough out in batches. Cut out circles, about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Fill each circle with a teaspoon of filling. Fold edges up, and press together to make triangles.
Bake for 15 minutes. Move to cooling rack to cool.
Poppy Seed Filling
Makes about a cup
1/4 c milk
2 T sugar
3/4 c poppy seeds
3 T honey
Heat milk and sugar in a small saucepan until boiling. Add poppy seeds. Simmer for a few minutes, and then remove from the heat. Stir in honey. Let cool before using.
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