Hamantashen on JST

It feels thematically acceptable, even appropriate, to file this post according to Jewish Standard Time, which measures time by (often gross) approximation. Indeed, according to JST, posting on hamantashen almost a month after Purim is actually timely.

When people ask my co-baker Rebecca to tell them the story of Purim, she says, "Glad you asked," and dives right in. I do not. Despite the "Esther saves the Jewish people from the evil Haman" part, I can't shake the fact that it is essentially a story of a Jewess who tricks the king into marrying her. (What a stereotype.) So, I'll leave it to wikipedia to fill in the details if you're interested.

For our purposes, it's only really important to know that the featured cookie is named after Haman, the one who ordered the Jews to be killed and depending on who you ask, the triangular cookie is an approximation of either his hat or his ear. However, Becca and I are partial to the hat camp because we are logical people and the idea of triangle ears is absurd.

RECIPE:
Dough:
3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
10 Tbs. butter, cut into cubes
2 eggs
2 egg yolks (reserve whites for egg wash)
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Egg wash:
2 egg whites, lightly beaten with 2 tsp. sugar

TIPS FROM BUBBIE:
-the less you handle, the better
-careful pinching
-roll out thin

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a Cuisinart, pulse several times. Add butter, pulse and then process. In a small bowl, beat eggs, yolks and vanilla. Pour egg mixture into bowl, pulse and mix (bottom up) for 10+ seconds. Refrigerate in a ball for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease pan and line with parchment paper. Allow dough to warm for 20 minutes.

Roll to 1/8" thick, cut circles using a 3" round cookie cutter. Place 2 tsp. of filling in the center and brush perimeter with egg wash. Lift dough to partially cover filling. DO NOT PINCH!!! Seal. Brush tops with egg wash. Bake for 15-18 minutes.

Cool and nosh your heart out.

NOTES: Becca thought it would be a great idea to add a little almond extract, so we substituted 1/2 tsp. vanilla for 1/2 tsp. almond--excellent call. We noticed that the more generous we were with the egg wash, the prettier the cookies turned out. Also, the cookies made with the 3" circle were huge, so we made some of them smaller and although I preferred them that way, the fact that only a few remained by the end of the day suggests that they were so delish that nobody else really cared.