Hamantaschen for Purim

There are many different explanations for why we eat hamantaschen on Purim and why it's triangular. I'll always go with the story I heard: the pastries are triangular to symbolize Haman's hat (which had three corners, three corners had his hat--we used to sing that at the Purim carnival at synagogue.) I'm not sure why we would be eating the villian's hat, but I like hamantaschen, so I don't argue.

Try explaining this to a room full of non-Jews--I brought these into class--and you get some very odd looks. Not that anyone really minded that they were eating pastries that were possibly modeled after Haman's Vulcan-like triangular ears...they were just happy to be eating homemade pastries!

I digress. Traditionally, hamantaschen are made with date or prune compote or poppy seed filling. I've also seen apricot, red berry, and more. My mom got a new Jewish cookbook (not a kosher one, just a book of traditional Jewish recipes) and it has a recipe for apple hamantaschen. Sounds good!

The dough was a nightmare to work with, but easy enough to make and it did taste delicious. The apple filling was simple and just plain yummy. It reminded me (as the cookbook said it would) of apple pie filling. It was rich and warm with cinnamon, nutmeg, and toasted walnuts. The molasses glaze looked beautiful and I happen to love molasses' rich, bittersweet flavor with apples (and chocolate chip cookies and ginger and, well, a lot of things.)

These weren't really proper, traditional hamantaschen, but they were excellent and, anway, I like apples more than dates so heck with tradition! (Actually, disregarding tradition entirely, I'd recommend making these and just calling them mini, rustic galettes--or something of that nature--in the autumn when apples are in season.)