With Purim round the corner, It's a time to think about making festive bakes. The most famous of all are hamantaschen, by tradition these are three cornered tarts Filled with a poppy seed filling called Mon.
Some say these delicacies. are, like Haman’s ears others say like his purse. which he planned to fill with gold.
There are many recipes for hamantaschen, some with a yeast dough, others with a pastry dough however, this is my favourite because it's so quick and easy to make.
You can choose your filling, traditional there is a poppy seed or prune filling, alternatively, more recently, people are using nut spreads. or even peanut butter and savoury fillings.
My favourite filling. It's the apricot filling, so I'm sharing it with you today.
You can make these gluten free, by substituting Gluten free flour and gluten free baking powder.
Ingredients to make 24.
For The Dough
125 gr Sugar. You can use superfine caster sugar, Offer a deeper flavour, you can use Soft, light brown sugar.
2 medium eggs.
88 g tomor or plant butter melted or 100ml oil
300 gr Plain flour.
1.5 level teaspoons of baking powder.
the rind of one orange grated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
For the Apricot Filling
250 g dried apricots
2 teaspoons runny honey
Zest of half an orange
Juice of half an orange
Ginger to taste -either use fresh or dried. (optional)
Method.
Make the filling
Chop the apricots in half, put them in a dish and cover them with boiling water to soak. for about half an hour strain them well. then place them in a food processor. add the orange rind honey, orange juice and ginger, blend until smooth, the mixture will be fine for 3 days in the fridge in an airtight container
Make the Dough
Place the 1.5 eggs, melted plant butter, sugar, flour, vanilla orange zest, baking powder into a food processor.
Blend, till it’s a rollable dough, if it’s too wet add a little extra flour. Take the dough from the food processor, at this stage you can wrap it in cling film and place it in the fridge, The beauty of this recipe? Is that you can make the components. Place them in the fridge. And then put everything together the next day. So, if you have young grandchildren or children, you can prepare everything for them, and they can have fun making the Hamentashen up at their leisure.
Making the Hamantaschen
Preheat the oven. Two gas mark 4. 180 centigrade or 350 Fahrenheit.
Sprinkle flour down on your surface & roll out the dough until it is about half a centimetre thick
Cut with a biscuit cutter., Into rounds of 7.5 centimetres.
Place a spoonful of the apricot filling in the centre, then draw up three sides to form a triangle leaving the centre open.
Pinch the sides together firmly.
Place the Hamentashen on a baking tray.
Take the remaining half of egg beat the egg, and brush the tops and sides of the hamantaschen with the beaten egg,
Place in the oven, bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.
Cool, then share with family and friends.