hamantaschen.

i miss very specific things about living in NYC and Hamantaschen is one of them.

they've eluded me in sf. i'm sure they're available somewhere, but
i've visited many bakeries in the 8 or so years that i've lived here & never seen a single Hamantasch.

i did, however, find damn good Hamantaschen in a Las Vegas bakery, so that's where i've been getting my fix.

poppy seed filling is traditional, but i have no idea where to buy poppy seeds in bulk locally, so i made apricot.

they turned out pretty good. not New York good, but good.

if i make them again, i will invest the time into finding poppy seeds in bulk.

Notes:

1) i used Gale Gand's recipe, which features flecks of orange zest in the dough & a cooked filling made from dried apricots, honey, orange juice & more zest. the filling is really, really good (much better than using jam) but i would cut the zest at least in half because the orange flavor is a little too prominent.

2) the filling recipe made a lot & you could easily cut it in half.

3) after adding the egg mixture to the butter/flour mixture, pulse several time - just until the dough clings together.

4) i am not talented when it comes to rolling out dough, so i always roll it to the desired thickness between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. if the dough requires chilling, i transfer the plastic-wrapped sheet of dough to a sheet pan before throwing it in the fridge.

5) i used a 2 1/2" round cutter & 1 tsp of filling in the center.



make sure you pinch the 3 corners really tightly so the sides don't fall open when they're baking.



6) bake at 350 deg. for 12 minutes. cool 5-7 minutes on pans. remove to wire racks to cool completely.

yield: 40 Hamantaschen