Full disclaimer here: before I made these, I’d never actually heard of hamentashen. A few weeks ago, someone overheard my coworkers and I discussing baking, they found out I went to culinary school, asked me to make them some hamentashen, and the rest is history.
Hamentashen is a Jewish treat, traditionally eaten during Purim. It’s a soft pastry, filled with jam, folded into a triangle shape. Apparently they’re traditionally filled with prunes, but I’m much more of a berry jam girl myself, so that’s what I went with. I’m the baker, I get to make the decisions.
I filled half of these with bumbleberry jam (this was a magical combo of marionberries, huckleberries, and blueberries), and the other half with strawberry rhubarb jam – you all know about my obsession with strawberry rhubarb…
So now here’s the story about how these hamentashen were received.
He literally ran into my office from the elevator and said, “I’m here, where are they?”. He even brought a bottle of milk with him ?. I was going to make him wait to eat them until he was done with his appointment, but the whole thing was so funny, I just caved.
It was worth it though because he told me they were BETTER than hamentashen you can get at a Jewish bakery.
You guys, that might be one of the biggest compliments I’ve ever got on a treat I’ve made. Especially when people have such high expectations for what they should taste like. He literally ate like half of one box before he even went back for his appointment.
I’m telling you, one way to make me smile is to flip over something I’ve made. I don’t bake for myself. My favourite thing about baking is being able to share what I make. That’s why I love working with such a big group of people – built in taste-testers and they never say no!
But back to the story.
He said he was going to take some to his mother (because it’s not real hamentashen approval if it doesn’t come from a Jewish mother), but I really didn’t think he would even make it to his car without eating them all. Apparently he did though, because he told me “my mother flipped out at how good the tashen was. It was truly superb”.
This was good feedback because my family liked them, but they’ll pretty much eat anything I make. Unbiased feedback is the best!
All of this to say, you need to immediately get in your kitchens and make these. They got rave reviews from two people who have never had anything I’ve baked before, so you know they’re good.
I’ve had a lot of questions about how my knee is doing over the last few weeks and I’ll address all of that in a separate post later this week. Until then, enjoy the hamentashen!
Ingredients
Dough:
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 tbsp. fresh orange juice
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- Zest of 1 lemon
Filling:
- Jam, of your choice (I used bumbleberry and strawberry rhubarb)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the orange juice, vegetable oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and lemon zest. Stir in the flour mixture until the dough begins to come together. Turn the dough out onto your countertop and knead a few times until the dough is smooth (it should not be sticky).
- Divide dough into two discs, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight (I refrigerate mine overnight).
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Remove one half of the dough from the fridge and roll out on a lightly floured surface to 1/8"-1/4" thick. Using a 3-inch cookie cutter, cut circles and place them on your baking sheet. Re-roll scraps and repeat with remaining dough.
- Put a dollop of jam in the center of each dough circle. Fold the left side over on an angle, followed by the right side, then the bottom. Pinch the edges together to form a triangle. You still want to be able to see the jam in the centre.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes, until lightly browned. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, before placing on a wire rack to cool completely.
