Hamantaschen is a traditional
food of Purim - a Jewish holiday that celebrates yet another historic case of
“They wanted to kill us, they didn’t succeed, let’s eat.” Hamantaschen means pockets
of Haman: Haman was the evil guy in the book of Ester, which we read in this
holiday. Taschen is a German/Yiddish word used in names of foods with filling, like
quarktaschen –Danish cheese pastry.
In Hebrew we call these cookies Oznei Haman – ears of Haman. The cookies
are made from the same buttery crispy dough that is used in making short bread
or jam sandwich cookies. The filling can be jam, chocolate spread (like Nutella),
or poppy seed (cooked with water and sugar). In this recipe I used St. Dalfour
strawberry jam.
Ingredients:
2 cups almond flour
1 cup arrowroot/tapioca flour
¼ cup sugar/sugar substitute
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup cold butter/coconut oil
– cut to 8 slices
1 egg
1.5 cup jam – for filling
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350F/180C
In a food processor with a
chopping blade mix together dry ingredients.
Add vanilla extract and
butter/coconut oil. Mix until you receive a flaky texture.
Place dough between two
sheets of parchment paper and roll into a 1/4-inch (1/2cm) thick layer.
Remove top paper and with a
3-inch diameter cookie cutter create disks in the dough.
Place about 1 tsp jam at the
center of each disc.
Since the dough is very sticky,
the best way to work with it is by using a spatula to release each disc from
the paper and place in the palm of your hand.
Create 3 folds in the dough and
with your fingers pinch them together at the corners.
Place on a baking sheet.
Bake for 17-19 minutes
Let cool. Store in an airtight container in room temperature.
