(That was a play on Hammer Time for those of you who didn’t get it. But you all got it, right? Cause you’re smart kids.)
Last week was Purim, which I like to call the Jewish Halloween. But really, it’s a festival that celebrates yet another day when us Jews escaped persecution from some bad peoples. (I’m such a good Jew it’s astounding.) People dress up in costumes and party, so Jewish Halloween it is.
For Purim, you make a dessert called Hamentashen, which are delicious cookies filled with jam. Traditionally they’re supposed to be filled with prune butter, which sounds a lot better than it is, but the supermarkets here don’t carry that, so jam it was. I didn’t make these in time for Purim, which was last Tuesday (I’m pretty sure… again horrible Jew here), but that’s no reason to enjoy them anyway, so I got my grandma’s recipe from my mom, and went to town!
So, if you will, Hamentashen in Photo Essay. (It’s been awhile since I did one of these… you know you love it!)
And the recipe:
Ingredients:
1 cup vegetable or corn oil (plus extra for brushing cookies)
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 cups flour (plus extra for handling dough)
2 tsps vanilla
Preserves for filling (I also make some with peanut butter and chocolate chips!)
cinnamon
Mix together the oil, sugar, eggs, baking powder, salt, flour and vanilla to create dough. You can use your hands to form it once it combines. Rub some flour on the rolling pin and cutting board, roll out portions of the dough at a time, and cut out circles (I used a cup.) Use about teaspoon of filling for each circle. Pinch closed into a nurses cap.
When you have a full cookie tray, mix about two tsbs of oil w/ cinnamon. Brush the cookies with this mixture before baking. Bake at 375 until golden brown (about 10-12 minutes.)
Enjoy!
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
omg!!! i’ve only made hamentashen once…. but it was amazing. damn I might have to do this for purim’s sake. I’m such a terrible jew.
I got it! I got it!!
And wow you guys make awesome things always!!
Ok so spill on the wedding detailsssss. Some of us would like to know.
I’m now craving peanut butter and chocolate. Those ones sound delish.
I am not much of a jam person though.
Mmm the rainbow of jams look great!
Nice job! My Jewish homing device works solely on food. At some point last week I had a craving for hamentashen, and then had to confirm with someone at work that it was in fact, Purim. I bought some for the office, and noshed on a raspberry one. You may have inspired me to break out the baking sheets though.
Thanks for introducing me to this visually, I’ve never known before, and those really REALLY look good. ANd cookies! You know how much I love cookies?:P
Ohh those look so yummy! Chocolaes, jams? Yes, please!
I LOVE making those. They’re so tasty. Yours look like they came out great!
Have you noticed that, oh, EVERY Jewish holiday is like “we were persecuted, we survived, let’s eat!” It’s kinda great. Especially the eating part.
I’m not Jewish, but can I make them anyway?
Some of our Jewish friends invited us to celebrate Purim with them and I had such a great time. As always, the food was delicious!
oh those look tasty, i’ve never tried them before and now i’ll have to!
OMG. They look so delicious!
I love this recipe! Maybe I will make them a week late for all of my Jewish coworkers tonight! Thanks for sharing!
My mom and my brother LOVE hamentashen. If they see this post, they might try to trade me in and adopt you.
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