The Recipe Box Video Series - Episode 1: Hamantaschen

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The Recipe Box Video Series - Episode 1: Hamantaschen

A million cookbooks can tell you how to cook, says award-winning author, culinary expert, and temple member Diane Worthington but “what if I could find people who could share a ‘taste memory,’ the history of why they love this recipe, why it works, and what the connection is from their past.”

In this introductory episode of “The Recipe Box,” Toby Berkow steps into Diane’s kitchen to remember her grandmother’s farmhouse hamentashen. Sweetened with honey and her childhood memories, Toby shows you how to make a crowd-pleasing batch of tri-cornered Purim pastries.

Hamantashen

By Kaila Itzkowitz, Grandmother of Toby Neiman Berkow

Makes 40 cookies

Ingredients

2 ½ cups

All-purpose Flour

2 ½ teaspoons

Baking Powder

¼ teaspoon

Kosher Salt

1/3 cup

Vegetable Shortening or Margarine

½ cup

Sugar

¼ cup

Organic Honey

2

Eggs

1 tablespoon

Lemon Juice

1 jar

Lekvar (Prune Butter) or whatever filling you like

   

 

Process

  1. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside. 

  2. In separate mixing bowl, beat shortening, sugar, honey, and lemon juice until blended. 

  3. Add eggs and combine. 

  4. Slowly beat in flour mixture to form soft dough. When formed, wrap dough in plastic and chill for at least at least 30 minutes.

  5. Pre-heat oven to 300° and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

  6. Take dough out of the refrigerator. 

  7. Roll out dough to 3/16” thick on a well-floured surface. 

  8. Using a 3” round cookie cutter, cut discs saving extra dough to roll out again until all the dough has been used. 

  9. Place discs on cookie sheets and fill each circle with about a teaspoon of lekvar or filling of your choice. Pinch the three sides together to form an open triangle shaped cookie with the filling in the middle. Hamantaschen should be about 2” apart. 

  10. Bake for about 17-20 minutes or until the dough turns light brown. 

  11. Cool on a rack completely before eating or storing.

  12. To store, place in an airtight container. Cookies will stay fresh for up to 3 days.