Hamantaschen
Purim is this Friday, March 21st, less than one week away.
For those who aren’t familiar with Purim, it is a festival as opposed to a major holiday or “holy day.” Purim involves the story of the attempted destruction of the Jewish people, the subsequent escape to “freedom” and much feasting, a set of themes that run throughout many of our celebrations.
Purim is recorded in the Book of Ester and dates back to 600 BCE. At this time, Jewish exiles in Babylonia found themselves under Persian rule, with the spread of the Persian Empire. Haman, an adviser to the King of Persia, Achasverus, made plans to kill the Jews. Instead, Esther and her brother Mordechai thwarted these plans –with the help of divine intervention.
Rather than becoming the victims of evil decree, the Jews were allowed by the King to hang Haman; the day after his killing was designated as a day for feasting and rejoicing which we celebrate into the present. A bit macabre, though some Jewish holidays are.
This celebration now entails reading the Book of Ester and shaking groggers (noise makers) each time Haman’s name is mentioned. Further, children dress up in costumes (often as Haman, Mordechai or Esther, though anything goes these days), families exchange shaloch manos (English translation: “send gifts”) of food baskets and bake cookies called hamantaschen.
Hamantaschen, literally means Haman’s pocket in Yiddish. In Hebrew, these three cornered cookies, little triangles stuffed traditionally with poppy seeds or prune filling, are called Oznai Haman, or Haman’s ear. Alternatively, it is thought that Hamantaschen are a representation of the three cornered hat that Haman wore. Whatever these cookies represent, I love to make them every year in celebration of purim!
Filling:
1 cup currants
1 ½ cups water
2 apples, peeled, cored, chopped
1 whole vanilla bean
6 slivers lemon rind
1 cup dried apricots, chopped in quarters
Dough:
3 cups blanched blanched almond flour
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
½ cup grapeseed oil
1 egg
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Filling:
- In blender, on high speed, puree currants in 1 ½ cups water until smooth
- In a medium saucepan, combine currant mixture, apples, vanilla bean, lemon rind and dried apricots
- Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until apples are soft, about 45 minutes
Dough:
- In a large bowl, combine almond flour and salt
- In a smaller bowl, mix together oil, egg, agave, and vanilla
- Mix wet ingredients into dry
- Roll dough into 1 inch balls; place them on a parchment lined baking sheet, then press flat into small circles
- Scoop one teaspoon of filling into each circle of dough
- Fold the dough in from three sides and pinch the corners to form a triangle shaped cookie
- Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes until dough is golden brown
- Serve
Makes 18 hamantaschen
As I mentioned, traditionally Hamantaschen are stuffed with prune paste or poppy seed paste. While I liked the tradition, these tastes were a little strange to me growing up. Now, these gluten-free Hamantashcen are filled with a more familiar, yet slightly exotic filling. I hope you like them as much as we do!
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Subscribe by Email to elanaspantry.com:Posted on March 15, 2008 in desserts by Elana
you might also like: Fig Newtons
or Linzer Hearts
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Hi Elana,
These looks great!!
I hope I have time to make these this year, although I’m sure I’ll use a poppyseed filing
Purim Sameah!
March 16th, 2008 4:42 am
Hey Elana,
It so funny, I was just looking for new recipes for Hamantaschen… well, we call it “Haman’s Ears” but it’s the same thing :) any way, here you are with a new one for me :) I’ve never tried it with almond flour before, but I’m sure it’ll come out great.
thank you and happy Purim :o)
March 16th, 2008 6:09 am
thank you for explaining Purim. =)
i hope you and your family have a great & delicious holiday. these look yummy!
March 16th, 2008 8:37 am
These look great Elana! It was wonderful reading all about Hamantaschen, hope you and your family have a great festive celebration!
March 16th, 2008 5:06 pm
Elana, thanks so much for posting this! We tried to make gluten-free hamantaschen last year with Bob’s Red Mill GF flour and they really left a lot to be desired–almond flour sounds like a much better option, and it’ll be exciting to try them out this week!
March 16th, 2008 8:14 pm
Ya’ara -Let me know how your Oznei Haman turn out with the prune filling. Purim Sameah!
Lital -Glad you found this recipe and thanks for stopping by!
Emma Leigh - You are welcome; it is my pleasure.
Meena -If you decide to try them, let me know how you like this Purim treat.
Hannah - Yes, I think the almond flour works very well for GF cookies, it holds together well, has a nice texture and is much higher in nutrients than the other GF flours. Let me know how you like them when you try out the recipe!
March 18th, 2008 10:52 am
Hi Elana,
Eventually I came up with a recipe of my own, where the dough is based on the poppy seed filling, and as a Filling I used almond flower.
It came out beautifully!
Happy Holidays!
Ya’ara
March 20th, 2008 12:22 am
I’ve never really enjoyed hamantaschen, maybe because I’ve never had a great one. Since I love anything made with almond flour your version looks very delicious, and the filling is so natural looking and I’m guessing not icky sweet. Super blog!
Heidi
March 21st, 2008 2:39 pm
Ya’ara-That sounds amazing! So creative. Please let me know your recipe. I would love to try it out!
Heidi-Thanks for your comment. Nothing over here is “icky sweet” (I like that term) as I don’t do well with overly sweet foods and have pretty much weaned myself from them over the years and lost all taste for “icky.” :-) I hope you enjoy the hamantaschen if you make them!
March 21st, 2008 10:22 pm