Hamantaschen

Contains gluten. I posted a delicious gluten-free recipe here last year. This year our GF people are either away or on a diet, so I’m just making glutenous hamantaschen to give away.

Haman is the villain of the Scroll of Esther, read at the Jewish holiday of Purim.   On Purim we eat hamantaschen, triangle-shaped cookies supposed to be in the shape of Haman’s purse, hat, or ears, according to different sources.   This is my favorite easy glutenous hamantaschen recipe, adapted from an old edition of  Spice and Spirit: The Complete Kosher Jewish Cookbook  by Lubavitch Women’s Organization.

Ingredients

• ¾  c. sugar
• ¾  c. margarine
• 3 beaten eggs
• 4- ½ c. flour
• 3 tsp. baking powder
• ½  tsp. salt
• ¾  c. orange juice

Instructions

1. Cream sugar and shortening.
2. Beat or stir in eggs.
3. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt together.
4. Add flour mixture and orange juice to sugar mixture and blend well.
5. Roll out about 1/8” thick on floured board and cut into circles with floured glass.   Spread a small spoonful of filling* in the middle.   Fold up into triangles, sealing corners with water and leaving an opening in the center to see filling.
6. Bake on greased cookie sheet at 350 ° F for about 20 minutes or until slightly browned.

* For fillings, try Solo Poppy Seed, almond or apricot fillings, homemade date or prune filling, nuts, chocolate chips, jam, or anything else that sounds good.  Plain jam can be a problem because if the filling is watery, the sides of the cookies don’t stick together very well. One of our favorites is to mix a can of Solo Apricot Filling with a package of chocolate chips.

P.S. I’m cheating and using a photo of last year’s GF cookies, but they look the same. I’ll replace this with a current picture when/if I remember.