Hamantaschen

Purim, the 14th of Adar, is my favorite holiday in the Jewish calendar. This is in part due to the shades of emotional complexity inherent in the holiday and partly due to its underdog nature (overshadowed both by biblical holidays and by Chanukah, it’s spoiled rich cousin who benefited from location). Mostly, however, this is due to hamantaschen, the Ashkenazi culinary emblem of the Feast of Esther.

For those not in the know, Purim celebrates the biblical Book of Esther, the story of how in ancient Persia, an evil prime minister (Haman) convinced the all powerful king (Ahashuerus) to kill all the Jews in his empire, and how the beautiful, brave Queen Esther, herself a Jew, heeds her cousin Mordechai’s advice and warns the king at her own peril, thus saving the Jews and turning the tables on Haman. We celebrate by reading the Megillat Esther, dressing up in costumes, stamping out the name of Haman with noisemakers, feasting, and drinking to excess. Holidays don’t get much better than this.

In fact, the whole holiday is an exploration and celebration of all our nobler and baser emotions: fear, hatred, jealousy, lust, bravery, and revenge. There is a tradition that on Purim, one should get so drunk that they can’t tell the difference between “blessed is Mordechai” and “cursed is Haman”. And somehow, Chanukah got all the press time.

Another tradition, however, is sending packages of goodies to friends, family, and people in need. Central to this tradition (mishloach manot), is the making of hamantaschen, triangular cookies filled with everything from traditional Eastern European fillings of poppy seed and prune, to less heinous fillings of berry jams, apricot, chocolate, etc., etc., etc.

What follows is my recipe for hamantaschen. Although strawberry, apricot, raspberry, and chocolate are my traditional go-to fillings, every now and then I get exotic with the mango filling shown below. Chag sameach! Happy holidays!

Ingredients

• Cookie dough
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup sugar
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 eggs, beaten
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ½ cup butter or margarine, melted

• Mango filling
• 3 ripe mangoes (each about 3/4 pound)
• 1 Tbs fresh lime juice
• 2 Tbs sugar
• 1 tsp corn starch mixed with 2 tsp water

Mango filling:

Peel and cut flesh from mangoes, discarding pits. In a blender or food processor purée mango with the lime juice and 2 tablespoons sugar until smooth. Heat sauce over a low to medium flame, stirring constantly. Add the corn starch and cook until it thickens to your desired consistency. This recipe makes a lot of filling, but you can always freeze the extra.

Hamantaschen:

Sift or mix well the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together eggs, butter, juice, and vanilla extract. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix together. If the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour and cover. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. Roll out dough to ⅛ inch thickness. Cut into circles with a 2-3 inch round cookie cutter. Put ¾ tsp of filling in the center of the circle. Shape into triangles using a standard hamantaschen fold. Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake on a parchment-lined cookie sheet for 11 to 13 minutes, until edges are golden brown. Cool on a rack