Oznei Haman or Hamantashen; the Hebrew refers to the ear of Haman, the Yiddish refers to the pocket… Regardless of what you call these yummy triangle Purim cookies, to so many they are a sweet holiday memory that appears every year. There’s always a big discussion about what goes inside of them… Poppy seeds (my favorite!) have been crowned the traditional filling; chocolate received the kids’ choice award; jelly or jam, nuts, Halva, caramel… The list is endless and every year I hear of more and more interesting ideas for fillings.
For once, forget about what goes on the inside…
Perhaps it’s against our nature, we live our lives in a search for the meaning, the content and what’s on the inside. But just this time, when it comes to Oznei Haman (Hamantashen), I want to emphasis the “cover” of this book – THE DOUGH. This traditional dough recipe is a winner! It has a great balance of flavors that gives it that old fashion presence and the texture is soft and crispy at the same time – perfection!
You will need:
225 gr./ 2 sticks of Butter (soften)
150 gr./ ⅔ cup Sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp. Vanilla Paste (or extract)
400 gr./ 3¼ cups Flour
1 tsp. Orange Zest
a pinch/ ⅛ tsp. Salt
You will also need a food processor.
Ideas For Filling:
Poppy Seed paste; Dulce de Leche, finely chopped Almonds & dry ground Coconut; Halva & finely chopped Pistachios; ground Peanuts & Strawberry Jam; finely chopped Walnuts & Silan (Date Syrup); finely chopped Macadamia Nuts & White Chocolate; Dark Chocolate, Coffee & Cookie crumbs.
Let’s get to work:
In this case the food processor does all the work for us. Start with the soft butter, pulse in the food processor to a light fluff.
Add sugar and blend for a few second to evenly incorporate them together. The mixture should look light and fluffy.
Add one egg at room temperature and blend together again for a few more seconds.
Time for some aroma and flavor: Add the vanilla paste (or extract) pulse it in.
Zest an orange. Add the zest to the flour and salt, combine together and add to the food processor.
Pulse together just as much as needed to start creating unified dough.
Remove the dough from the food processor onto a plastic wrap; use your hands to bring it together a bit. Form an even flat shape and cover well with the plastic wrap. Move to the refrigerator and let the dough cool for 30 minutes.
After the dough has cooled cut it in half and work with it one half at a time. Use a rolling pin to open it on a lightly dusted floured surface.
I roll the dough to about a quarter of inch in thickness and I like to use a small-circled cookie cutter (about 2½ inch diameter).
Use your favorite filling and place it in the center of each circle. My favorite is the traditional poopy seed paste, but other popular fillings at our home are:
Dulce De Leche Filling- I use Dulce de leche, finely chopped almonds and dry unsweetened ground coconut. The combination of flavors is crazily good and reminds me of Alfajores – my favorite Argentinian cookies.
Halva-Pistachios Filling- For a match made out of Middle Eastern heaven 🙂 (Already been proven with the Halva-Pistachio Mousse Cake) Finely chop the pistachios and crumble in the Halva. Yum! One of my absolute favorite combos…
Walnut-Silan Filling- Finely chopped up walnuts mixed with Silan (Date syrup) and a touch of lemon zest. Theses flavors give such a fresh authentic Mediterranean taste!
Ground Peanuts and Jam- It’s my American combo. I just like to grind or finely chop the peanuts myself; the texture is a lot more interesting than plain peanut butter. And for the jam or jelly use whatever you like…my favorite is the classic strawberry.
Fold the edges over to create a triangle shape and pinch well at the three corners. Arrange the Oznei Haman onto a baking tray lined up with parchment paper.
Bake the Oznei Haman in a 350° preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes; they stay relatively light in color. Remove the tray from the oven and cool completely before removing the cookies from tray.
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Quick Recipe:
Oznei Haman- Hamantashen-
Start with soft Butter in a Food Processor, blend until fluffy and light.
Add one Egg at room temperature and continue blending.
Pulse in Vanilla Paste.
Add Orange Zest to Flour and Salt to create a dry ingredient mixture.
Add dry ingredients to the food processor and to create unified dough.
Move dough to plastic wrap cover well and cool for 30 minutes in refrigerator.
Divide the dough in half and work with one half at a time.
Roll the dough flat to about quarter inch in thickness and cut out circles.
Place filling in the middle of each circle and fold the edges to create a triangle shape.
Pinch the corner closed.
Bake in a 350° preheated oven for 12-15 minutes.
Let cool before removing the cookies from the tray.
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