Hamantaschen
The quintessential Purim delight is the three-cornered filled cookie (looking like George Washington’s hat) called hamantaschen in Yiddish and ozen haman in Hebrew. Developed by Eastern European Jews centuries ago, hamantaschen are made from either cookie dough or yeast dough and usually are stuffed with poppy seed or fruit fillings. They are variously considered symbolic of Haman’s pocket, Haman’s hat and Haman’s ear.
Poppy seeds have special significance during Purim, because tradition holds that Queen Esther chose a vegetarian diet of beans, nuts and various seeds, including poppy seeds, rather than eat non-kosher food in the king’s palace. Actually, it wasn’t such a bad idea, because poppy seeds are a good source of calories and calcium, zinc, manganese, copper, phosphorus, potassium and a wealth of B vitamins. Smart cookie.
From the story: The Feast of Lots (of Fun)
Filling
If ground poppy seeds are unavailable, grind them in a blender or coffee grinder. Place them in a small saucepan and add the milk, honey, raisins, butter and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until most of the liquid is absorbed, 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, cool the filling slightly, then cover and refrigerate it until firm, about 2 hours. (You can make this up to three days ahead).
Assembly
Cream the butter, brown sugar and honey in the bowl of a mixer on medium speed. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, and the vanilla, scraping down the sides occasionally.
Sift the baking powder, baking soda and all-purpose and whole-wheat flours together, discarding excess bran, if any, and blend into the butter mixture. Form the dough into two disk-like shapes and wrap them in plastic wrap or wax paper. Refrigerate the dough for several hours until firm. (This may be made up to three days ahead).
Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Roll out 1 disk of the chilled dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch thick. Keep the other half in the refrigerator until ready to use. Use a large round cookie cutter, wide-mouthed glass or clean tuna can with the bottom removed to cut out circles. Place a teaspoon of the filling in the center of each circle and pinch the edges to form a triangle, leaving a small opening in the center to see the filling.
Place the cookies about 1 inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake them until the cookies are lightly browned, 12 to 14 minutes. Remove and cool on a wire rack.
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