Oy vey! Hamantaschen disaster!


By JLCohen
February 27, 2010
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So this year I made hamantaschen using the exact same recipe I always use - the same one used by my mother for 60 years, by my bubbeh for 80 years and by those ancestors who came before her since goodness only knows when. As always, I made three types - one batch with the traditional poppyseed filling, one batch with blackcurrant jam and one with sweet mincemeat because I adore mince pies at Christmas and don't see why Christians should get all the fun.

However, something has gone wrong. The poppyseed batch are fine, but the mincemeat ones - despite being at the bottom of the oven where, had physics have been paying attention, it would have been cooler - have burnt. They're not inedible, but might be a little crunchier than is usual.

The jam ones, however, really don't look good. The jam has melted and, by the looks of things, reached such a high temperature that the hamantaschen have exploded, melted together and left a baking tray with contents that look not unlike the frankly terrifying "baked jam slice" that was cooked in 3 foot square tins and served up to the unfortunate inmates of my school (with custard - any leftover custard would be saved and used to repair potholes in the school playground). Now that it has cooled, close inspection reveals a burnt-on layer of jam that looks not unlike a geological sedimentary deposit some 1/8th of an inch thick covering the bottom of the oven. We may find fossils - I managed to knock over a tray of potato wedges last week, and I'm sure a few of them have been lurking at the back behind the bit where the gas comes out. Maybe I should leave them so that future palaeontologists can gain valuable insights into the evolution of potato-based convenience foods?

The thing is, I hesitantly picked a corner from the mutated jammy mass and do you know what? It's absolutely delicious - better than any hamantaschen I've ever made. Better, even, than my home-made rugelach and while I don't want to boast I have to admit that I rock when it comes to making rugelach.

We have a bit of a tradition here of adding new memorable dates to the calendar. Just as early Tevet brings "How On Earth Are We Going To Get All That Wax Out Of The Carpet/Off The Cat Day" and Tishrei brings "I'm Sure These Jeans Used To Fit Me - Damn Rugelach! I'd Better Join The Gym Day" (which falls just after Yom Kippur, of course), so Adar will now be shared by Purim and "On Our Hands And Knees Scraping The Inside Of The Oven Day."

Oh well. At least the hamantaschen taste good, even if they look a bit odd. Enjoy yours, too. Gut Yontiff!. :-)

COMMENTS

moshetzarfati2

27 February, 2010 - 20:37

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Indeed, as the Chief Rabbi of Rome says to the Pope every Christmas: "Gut Yontiff, Pontiff"

Miriam Shaviv

27 February, 2010 - 21:48

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Well come on, post the recipes then....

JLCohen

28 February, 2010 - 15:14

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My pleasure! However, as is so often the case with tried-and-tested recipes that have been in use for a long time, I don't use weights and measures because I know how much of each ingredient to add from experience. Anyone who doesn't bake might be better off with a more "technical" recipe, but I should think anyone more familiar with baking (as I know you are, Miriam, because of your posts about challah) will get along fine.

Also, this recipe does not include eggs. No idea when or why this came to be the case but it suits me fine because I think eggs are icky (to use the haute cuisine terminology). Instead, corn starch is used to bind the other ingredients (it works just as well in latkes too, by the way). I also use margarine, but butter ought to work just as well.

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, a pinch of salt and two dessert spoons of corn starch. Around 750g flour will make enough hamantaschen to allow the whole family to have two or three and it'll leave some for mishloach manot. Sugar can be added according to how sweet you want the end result to be, but do remember that the fillings are very sweet.

Next add the margarine or butter, rubbing it in by hand until you achieve the same sort of consistency as for crumble topping which is similar to breadcrumbs. Add some olive oil and knead it all together with a small amount of warm water until you get a rollable dough. Cover with cling film and refrigerate overnight.

Next day, grind poppyseeds in a mortar and pestle so that roughly half are cracked and the rest whole. Add around one quarter the same amount of sugar, then separate into two equal halves. Mix lemon juice into one batch to make a dry paste, leave the other as it is.

Pre-heat the oven to 175C and line a baking tray with foil - smear some margarine onto the foil so the hamantaschen won't stick.

Roll out the dough to about one eighth of an inch thick and use either a three inch cookie cutter or a cup of similar diameter (the lids of some containers work very well). One at a time, place each circle on the baking tray and add two teaspoons of jam, mincemeat or the poppyseed and lemon mixture, then fold up the edges to make the triangular shape - usually, if you pinch the corners, they stay triangular but you can brush on some milk to help them stick (I use soymilk, obviously). Using a spoon, sprinkle some of the poppyseed and sugar mix onto the exposed filling in the centre.

Bake for around 15-20 minutes, but check after 10 as jam burns easily. Allow to cool on the baking tray due to cooked jam being about five billion degrees C, then transfer onto a wire cooling rack. Phone your local gym and sign up, because you're going to eat more of these than is healthy.

(You can also use a filling made of apricot jam, sultanas and cinnamon, which is the same filling I use when making rugelach).

Next year, I'll weigh the ingredients while making them and report back with an easier-to-follow recipe! :-)

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