When and what is Purim?
The Jewish holiday of Purim falls on Sunday March 24 this year. The traditional treat to eat on Purim are Hamentashen, a triangular shaped cookie. Created by my Aunt Carol, these are the very best hamentashen. Tender cookie dough encases a sweet golden raisin and prune filling. After baking, dip them in honey and chopped toasted pecans, for crunch.
If you need a primer on Purim, or just a laugh, check out this cute video from Mayim Bialik.
Growing up in Toronto, we celebrated Purim with hamentashen from Open Window Bakery. They were enormous, with a hard, crumbly cookie dough exterior. There were only two flavour options, prune or poppy-seed fillings. Life was simpler back then! My sisters and I fought over the poppy-seed ones. Mom, why did you even bother buying the prune ones?
After marriage, I was introduced to Ottawa-style hamentashen. Homemade! These were little triangles of tender dough filled with a prune and raisin filling, dipped in honey and walnuts. Talk about culture shock. My husband’s aunts, Jenny and Carol, supplied the family with their version of hamentashen. They really are the very best hamentashen. After Aunt Jenny died, Aunt Carol continued the tradition of making hamentashen. She would mail them, near and far, to all her nieces and nephews.
My beloved Aunt Carol died suddenly in 2018. I miss her dearly. She taught me how to bake hamentashen and many other important life skills. When I first moved to Ottawa, she took me under her wing and offered me lots of advice, such as “I know you kept your own name when you got married, but if you use our family name when you order from the kosher butcher, you’ll get better quality meat. “ Turns out she was right. She usually was.
I will do my best to carry on her tradition of sharing her delicious hamentashen with as many as I possibly can!
Aunt Carol’s Hamentashen
Ingredients
Dough
- 3 large eggs
- 100 grams granulated sugar
- 125 grams vegetable oil
- 475 grams all purpose flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt or 1/4 teaspoon Morton's Kosher Salt
Filling
- 340 grams pitted prunes
- 170 grams golden raisins
- 125 grams strawberry jam
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
For assembly and topping
- 1 egg white lightly beaten
- 170 grams honey warmed in microwave for 30 seconds
- 100 grams pecan halves toasted and finely chopped
Instructions
- Make dough: In an electric mixer, mix eggs and sugar until smooth, about 3-4 minutes. Pour in oil and mix to combine. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt and add to mixer. Mix just until dough begins to come together.
- Dump dough onto the counter and knead for about a minute. Divide dough into 2 pieces and roll each piece, between 2 sheets of parchment paper, to an 1/8 inch thickness. Chill rolled dough in fridge for one hour. (Dough will keep in fridge for 5days or can be frozen for up to a month.
- Make filling: Combine all ingredients in the food processor and pulse until finely chopped, about 20 –25 pulses.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Use a round (2¾ -3 inch) cutter to to stamp out rounds, leaving as little space between them as possible so that you do not have too many scraps. Place rounds on parchment lined baking sheet, setting them 1½ inches apart. Set scraps aside.
- Brush the edge of the circles with cool water. Spoon about 2 teaspoons of the filling into the center of each circle. Fold up three sides of the dough against the filling, forming a triangular shape. Pinch the edges and corners gently so that the shape holds together. Repeat with remaining filling and dough. Scraps can be rerolled and chilled for at least 30 minutes before cutting and baking more hamentashen.
- Brush unbaked hamentashen with lightly beaten egg white. Before baking, add a second baking sheet under hamentashen. The double baking sheets will prevent the bottom of the hamentashen from getting too brown, before the tops and sides are done. Bake the hamentashen, rotating baking sheet halfway through, until golden, 15-16 minutes.
- Once the hamentashen have cooled, dip one edge of them in honey and then into the chopped pecans. Hamentashen will keep well in an airtight container, for about a week. For longer storage, they can be frozen for up to 2 months.
Nutrition
More Hamentashen Recipes
Looking for other hamentashen flavour options? Check out Malted Milk Chocolate Hamentashen, Poppyseed Fig and Walnut Hamentashen, Strawberry Rhubarb Hamentashen, Maple Pecan Hamentashen, Cinnamon Bun Hamentashen with Almond Shortbread Dough, Salted Caramel Apple Hamentashen, and Dried Cherry and Pecan Hamentashen
Aunt Carol’s Hamentashen
Ingredients
Dough
- 3 large eggs
- 100 grams granulated sugar
- 125 grams vegetable oil
- 475 grams all purpose flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt or 1/4 teaspoon Morton's Kosher Salt
Filling
- 340 grams pitted prunes
- 170 grams golden raisins
- 125 grams strawberry jam
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
For assembly and topping
- 1 egg white lightly beaten
- 170 grams honey warmed in microwave for 30 seconds
- 100 grams pecan halves toasted and finely chopped
Instructions
- Make dough: In an electric mixer, mix eggs and sugar until smooth, about 3-4 minutes. Pour in oil and mix to combine. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt and add to mixer. Mix just until dough begins to come together.
- Dump dough onto the counter and knead for about a minute. Divide dough into 2 pieces and roll each piece, between 2 sheets of parchment paper, to an 1/8 inch thickness. Chill rolled dough in fridge for one hour. (Dough will keep in fridge for 5days or can be frozen for up to a month.
- Make filling: Combine all ingredients in the food processor and pulse until finely chopped, about 20 –25 pulses.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Use a round (2¾ -3 inch) cutter to to stamp out rounds, leaving as little space between them as possible so that you do not have too many scraps. Place rounds on parchment lined baking sheet, setting them 1½ inches apart. Set scraps aside.
- Brush the edge of the circles with cool water. Spoon about 2 teaspoons of the filling into the center of each circle. Fold up three sides of the dough against the filling, forming a triangular shape. Pinch the edges and corners gently so that the shape holds together. Repeat with remaining filling and dough. Scraps can be rerolled and chilled for at least 30 minutes before cutting and baking more hamentashen.
- Brush unbaked hamentashen with lightly beaten egg white. Before baking, add a second baking sheet under hamentashen. The double baking sheets will prevent the bottom of the hamentashen from getting too brown, before the tops and sides are done. Bake the hamentashen, rotating baking sheet halfway through, until golden, 15-16 minutes.
- Once the hamentashen have cooled, dip one edge of them in honey and then into the chopped pecans. Hamentashen will keep well in an airtight container, for about a week. For longer storage, they can be frozen for up to 2 months.
I’m sure this cookie is absolutely delicious. And I’d love to try it. The problem is, I’m really not a baker. Even as a non-baker, I wouldn’t make the mistake of attempting to make this cookie without flour. But because I know so little, I wouldn’t be able to hazard a guess as to how much flour is called for. And, sadly, there is no flour listed in the ingredients. Might you be able to give me at least a general idea of the amount I might try?
Whoops! need to hire you for my editor/proofreader. I will fix recipe right away. Sorry about that!!
Thanks so much! I got it, and I will be making these delightful looking confections tomorrow. Congratulations on your website, by the way. It is truly such a resource!