As a child, I love the holiday of Purim, the time when my mother would make hamantashen, filled with apricot jam or dried prune fillings. As a young adult, when I was living in Jerusalem, I discovered a whole new world of hamantashen fillings, and the magic of the shalach manot, the gift baskets stuffed with fruits and cookies. Traditionally, these were made to use up the year’s flour before the beginning of Passover as well as to make gift offerings. Strangely enough, hamantashen are little known in France, except among Jews coming from eastern European backgrounds. The North African Jews don’t make them, nor do the Alsatian Jews, who fry doughnuts for Purim (see following recipe). French children who do eat hamantashen like a filling of Nutella, the hazelnut-chocolate spread. You can go that route, or opt for the more traditional apricot preserves, prune jam, or the filling of poppy seeds, fruit, and nuts that I’ve included here.

　　

Ingredients

about 40 cookies

　　

COOKIE DOUGH

1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter or pareve margarine, at room temperature

　　1/2 cup sugar

　　1 large egg

　　1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

　　1 tablespoon orange juice

　　2 1/2 to 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

　　1 teaspoon baking powder

　　1/2 teaspoon salt

　　

FILLING

1/2 cup poppy seeds

　　1/2 cup milk

　　1/2 cup sugar

　　10 pitted dates or figs, chopped

　　1/4 cup raisins

　　10 walnuts, roughly chopped

　　3/4 cup ground almonds

　　Grated zest of 1 lemon

　　1 egg yolk

　　

Step 1

To make the dough, cream the butter or margarine with the sugar in the food processor. Add the egg, vanilla, and orange juice, and continue to mix until smooth.

　　

Step 2

Add 2 1/2 cups flour, the baking powder, and the salt. Process until smooth. Flour your hands, remove the dough from the food processor, and cover it in plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.

　　

Step 3

Meanwhile, make the filling. Put the poppy seeds in a small saucepan. Cover with the milk, and simmer for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat, and cool.

　　

Step 4

Add the poppy seeds and milk to the sugar, dates or figs, raisins, walnuts, almonds, lemon zest, and egg yolk. Transfer to a food processor equipped with a steel blade, and pulse until just combined. Refrigerate until the batter is chilled.

　　

Step 5

When ready to make the cookies, remove the cookie dough from the refrigerator, preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and grease two cookie sheets.

　　

Step 6

Divide the dough into four pieces. Roll one ball out on a lightly floured board to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Cut the dough into 3-inch circles. Place 1 teaspoon of filling in the center of each circle. To shape the hamantashen, first brush water around the rim of the circle with your finger. Lift the edges of the dough up to form a triangle around the filling, pinching the three corners together, leaving a small opening in the center. Transfer to the cookie sheet, and bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the tops are golden. Repeat with each of the remaining dough balls.

　　Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous