Hamentashen are made traditionally to celebrate Purim, which is on March 1st this year. The story of Purim is about an evil man named Haman and a beautiful Jewish woman named Esther, who triumphed over Haman and his plot to destroy the Jewish people. Hamantaschen are shaped to resemble Haman’s 3 cornered hat.
You don't have to be Jewish or wait until Purim to enjoy these delicious treat. In fact, they can be indulged in all year round and are fun to make using different fillings. In the recipe below, we include several fillings made with Big Island Bees’ honey.
Recipe adapted from “The Jewish Holiday Cookbook” by Gloria Kaufer.
Fillings
Honey Nut Filling Ingredients:
- 1-½ cups nuts in any combination you would like. I used ½ cup raw cashews, ½ cup raw walnuts and ½ cup raw macadamia nuts.
- ½ cup Macadamia Blossom Honey
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Honey Nut Directions:
- Bring nuts, honey, salt and ½ cup water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer and stir often until the mixture thickens, 5 to 10 minutes. Take off the heat and let cool, stirring occasionally.
Honey Date Filling Ingredients:
- 6 pitted dates
- ½ cup hot water
- ½ tablespoon Lehua and Cinnamon honey
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated orange peel.
- Pinch of salt
Honey Date Filling Recipe:
- Place pitted dates in a bowl and cover with 1/2 cup hot water.
- Let the dates soak for 30 minutes.
- Put the dates into a food processor or blender, adding 2 tablespoons of the soaking water along with the Lehua and Cinnamon water and salt.
- Puree until smooth, add the orange peel and quickly pulse a few times to incorporate into the puree.
Poppy Seed Filling Ingredients:
- ½ cup ground poppy seeds ( grind seeds in a coffee or spice grinder).
- ½ cup milk
- ¼ cup Wilelaiki Honey
- ¼ cup raisins or dried currents
- ½ tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Poppy Seed Filling Directions:
- Place ground poppy seeds in a small sauce pan and add the milk, honey, raisins or currents, butter and lemon juice.
- Warm over medium heat, stir often until most of the liquid is absorbed.
- Remove the sauce pan from the heat and let the filling cool.
- Cover and refrigerate until firm.
Lilikoi Jam made with honey:
I buy this from our friend Colehour of Kanalani Ohana Farm. They sell their Kona Coffee as well as their homemade jams made with our honey every Saturday at the Keauhou Farmer’s market.
Hamantaschen Dough
Ingredients:
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup Lehua honey
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup sprouted wheat flour
- 1 beaten egg with 2 tablespoons of water for egg wash (optional)
Directions:
- Cream butter, brown sugar, and honey in a large bowl with a mixer on medium speed.
- Beat in eggs and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients.
- Blend the dry mixture into the butter mixture.
- Form the dough into two, large disk shapes and wrap them in plastic wrap or in beeswax wrap. (You can find Meli Wraps on our web site).
- Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days until firm.
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Roll out 1 disk onto a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch think.
- Keep the other disk refrigerated until ready to use.
- Use a large round cookie cutter or wide mouthed glass (about 3 inches across) to cut out circles.
- Place a teaspoon of filling in the center of each circle and pinch the edges to form a triangle, leaving a small opening in the center to see the filling.
- Brush with egg wash (Optional - I like egg wash as it gives a shiny appearance to the dough and helps hold the seams of the triangle together.)
- Place the cookies about 1 inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake until lightly browned, about 12 minutes.
- Remove and cool on a wire rack.
Makes about 24.
