Gingerbread Hamentaschen

Gingerbread Hamentaschen

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

1 stick butter or margarine, softened

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup dark, unsulfured molasses

1 Tablespoon cider vinegar

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon ground ginger

3/4 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. fine salt

Apple butter, or other filling of choice

Icing drizzle: 1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar mixed with about 2 Tbs. water or milk

Salted caramel sauce

In the bowl of a mixer, cream butter and sugar.  Add egg, molasses, and vinegar.  Sift flour, baking soda, spices and salt.  Gradually add flour mixture to butter.  Divide dough in half and wrap in plastic.  The dough will be very sticky and needs to be chilled thoroughly, preferably overnight.

Preheat to 375 degrees F.  Roll out dough on floured surface to ¼ inch.  Using a 3” round cutter, cut the dough and transfer to baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

  Fill each round with about ½ teaspoon of apple butter, or other filling. 

Pinch dough to form triangle shape and seal filling.  If you find the dough getting too soft, place the tray in the fridge for about 5-10 minutes to firm up.  Bake 12 to 15 minutes, or until no imprint remains when touched lightly with a fingertip.  Allow cookies to cool on racks. 

Decorate with a drizzle of icing or salted caramel, if desired. 

Pretzel-taschen Pretzel Hamentaschen

Pretzel-taschen Pretzel Hamentaschen

Makes 18 to 24 pieces

 2 ¼ tsp dry yeast

1 cup warm water

2 Tbs. vegetable oil

1 Tbs. brown sugar

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

4 Cups water and 1/3 cup baking soda for the water bath

About 4 ½ ounces of cheese, cut in to ¼ ounce pieces

Pretzel salt

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook or a large bowl, combine warm water and yeast. When the yeast dissolves, add the oil, sugar, flour and salt.  Turn the mixer on low or mix by hand until a dough forms. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead until the dough is no longer sticky. Let the dough rise in a greased, covered bowl until it doubles in size, about an hour. 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  After the dough rises, turn the dough out onto a floured surface.  Cut in to 18 to 24 pieces.  Roll each piece slightly into a ball and then using a rolling pin, flatten to a circle.  Roll up the edges of the dough to form a triangle.  Pinch the seams at the three corners. 

Place dough on a lightly greased parchment lined tray.  Fill a large pot with 4 cups of water and bring to a low simmer.  Add 1/3 cup baking soda and stir gently.  Add 2-3 pretzels at a time into the water bath.  Boil for about a minute and drain. 

Place back on baking sheet.  Add cheese and sprinkle with salt. 

Bake for 8-10 minutes in the oven until brown and the cheese is melted.  

Rainbow Hamentaschen

 Rainbow Hamentaschen

Makes about 3 dozen

Basic Hamentachen Dough:

4 eggs

1 1/3 cup sugar

¾ c. oil

2 tsp. Vanilla

1 Tbs. Baking powder

½ tsp. Salt

4 ¾ c. Flour

Food Color

1-2 (12 oz.) cans pastry filling (like Solo)

(3 cans if doubling the recipe.)

In a large bowl, beat eggs with the sugar until well-combined. Add oil and vanilla. Add flour, baking powder, and salt and mix until completely combined. Divide the dough into 6 (six) pieces.  Place each piece into a separate small bowl and add color of choice. Fold color into dough until evenly mixed.  Repeat with remaining dough.  Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap.  Add the first color of dough to the bottom of the pan.  Spread evenly and press the dough down in to the pan.  Add the next color and repeat until all the colors are layered in to the loaf pan.  Cover with remaining plastic wrap and chill several hours or overnight.  After the dough has chilled, remove the plastic wrapped dough and cut lengthwise.  Stack the dough on top so that you have two bands of rainbow dough.  Make ½ inch slices in the dough from the short end onto a lightly-floured counter.  Roll each of these slices out slightly to about a ¼ inch thickness.   

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using a round cutter, cut circles and place the dough circles on the parchment sheets. Add about a scant teaspoon (1/2 teaspoon for 3" circles) of pastry filling onto the center of each circle. Fold up the edges to form a triangle and pinch the edges together. 

Bake cookies for about 12-15 minutes (10-12 for smaller cookies). Any remaining dough can be gently pinched together and used to form additional cookies.  Cool on baking sheet briefly before transferring them to cooling racks to completely cool. Store in airtight container.

Happy Purim

Cake Mix Hamentaschen for 5775

Cake Mix Hamentaschen

Every year at Purim it seems that I find myself with an abundance of boxed cake mix in my pantry.  I'm not entirely sure how they all sneak into there, but it seems like a good a time as any to use them up.  Several years ago I found a recipe from Mommzy for hamentaschen using cake mix and I've been trying variations on the that recipe since then.  This year was definitely no different.  A couple of years ago I posted about the cake mix confetti version.  I made that again this year, but changed the recipe a bit.  I added a bit of oil to the dough and it seemed to make it much more pliable and less dried out.  I also decided to try the same marshmallow filling, but add it before baking rather than after.  I'm so glad I did.  The dough is much easier to work with this way and the marshmallow filling is super good when it bakes into the center.  I hope you try it for yourself!

Here is the recipe again with the changes.

Cake Mix Confetti Hamantaschen

1 box cake mix (I used yellow)

2 Tbs. sprinkles (jimmies)

1 cup flour

2 Eggs

2 Tbs. vegetable oil

2 Tbs. Water

Marshmallow filling

Mix all the ingredients in a medium-sized bowl until a ball forms.  Roll out dough on a floured surface to approximately 1/8th inch.  Cut the dough into 3" circles with a cookie cutter or a glass.  Add a teaspoon of marshmallow filling to the center and pinch closed into triangle shapes.  Bake at 375 degree oven for about 10 minutes.  Remove cookies to cool on rack.

Marshmallow filling

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup marshmallow fluff (about half of a 7 oz. container)

Add the shortening, 3/4 cup of sugar, and marshmallow fluff to the bowl of a mixer.  Mix ingredients together on a medium speed until a thick, spreading consistency is reached.

  

Chocolate Hamentaschen

Chocolate Hamentaschen (Adapted from The Frugal Ima's Perfectly Parve Chocolate cookies)

Ingredients:
1 cup shortening
1 c white sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp vanilla extract
2 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Filling:
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2-3 Tbs. Water
1 tsp. flavor extract of choice (i.e.vanilla, peppermint, etc.)
sprinkles or other toppings

Cream the shortening and sugar together until fluffy.  Add in eggs and vanilla and combine thoroughly.  Sift together dry ingredients and mix into shortening mixture just until combined.  Divide the dough in half, wrap in plastic and chill in the fridge at least a half an hour.  

Unwrap the chilled dough onto a floured surface.  Roll out the dough to a 1/4" thickness.  Cut using 1 1/2" round cutter.   Pinch the rounds to form a triangular shape.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.   Immediately after removing from the oven, use the end of a wooden spoon to make an indentation in the center of the cookie.  Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack. 

Mix the filling in a small bowl.  Spoon the icing into the cavity of each cookie.  Add sprinkles or other toppings, if desired.  Allow icing to set.  Store cookies in an airtight container. 

Purim Wrap-up

Gingerbread Hamentaschen

I wanted to post some pictures of  the treats we made and sent out last week for Purim.  I tried out a few new recipes this year to mix things up a bit.  First, I made gingerbread hamentaschen.  I used a basic gingerbread dough added a bit of apple butter for the filling and finished them with a bit of royal icing drizzle. The kids loved these and I will definitely make them again.  I think they love anything with a drizzle of icing.  A few of them didn't stay closed through the baking, so I don't know if they needed a bit more flour or just more pinching to stay closed.

Blondies

Another new-ish recipe was for the blondies.  I have made the Pioneer Woman's recipe for "Knock-you-naked" brownies a few times.  I thought I would run with the idea.  I used a box of vanilla cake mix (actually the valentine's one), omitted the nuts to the batter, and added white chocolate chips and shredded coconut for the center.  Another keeper of a recipe and super easy!

Chocolate pretzel candy

Last new recipe which is not really a recipe at all.  Something I saw while scrolling pinterest one day and thought "that looks good".  Little pretzel squares topped with chocolate hearts placed in a low oven (200 F) for 8-10 minutes.  Remove and top with an M&M.  Let cool (that's the hard part!).

Pumpkin Bread

I also made pumpkin bread.  Yes, with more royal icing on top  :)

Brownie covered oreos

This is an old picture, but I also made brownie covered oreos from this recipe.

And of course the star of the show was the Hamentaschen.

Packages getting ready

And the kids really enjoyed helping make the baskets inside.  I saw the idea here.

After all the baking and packing, I decided to get a bit festive with my Challah for the week, too.

Hamentaschen

Hamentaschen

Recipe adapted from Gloria Kaufer Greene (1999) The New Jewish Holiday Cookbook

I love this recipe.  It comes together very easily and works really well.  I cut the baking time down quite a bit from the original recipe.

Makes about 3 dozen (using a 3" cutter), about 5 dozen (using a 2" cutter)
  

Dough:

4 eggs

1 1/3 cup sugar

¾ c. oil

2 tsp. Vanilla

1 Tbs. Baking powder

½ tsp. Salt

4 ¾ c. Flour

1-2 (12 oz.) cans pastry filling (like Solo)

(3 cans if doubling the recipe.)

In a large bowl, beat eggs with the sugar until well-combined. Add oil and vanilla. Add flour, baking powder, and salt and mix until completely combined. Divide the dough into two pieces and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill several hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Remove dough from the plastic wrap and roll out one piece on a lightly floured surface to about ¼“ thick. Using a round cutter, cut circles and place the dough circles on the parchment sheets. Add about a scant teaspoon (1/2 teaspoon for 2" circles) of pastry filling onto the center of each circle. Fold up the edges to form a triangle and pinch the edges together. Bake cookies for about 12-15 minutes (10-12 for smaller cookies). Continue forming cookies with remaining dough. Cool on baking sheet briefly before transferring them to cooling racks to completely cool. Store in airtight container.

Happy Purim!

Cake Mix Confetti Hamantaschen

Cake Mix Confetti Hamantaschen

Last year I tried Mommzy's recipe for Cake Mix Hamantaschen.  I only had a box of funfetti cake mix in the pantry, so I tried it with that.  The recipe was great, but it was dairy so I didn't pack it in the packages last year.  No matter though, as the kids loved them they were gone in no time!  (it's all about the sprinkles)  Anyway, this year, I wanted to do it again, make them parve.  So this year, I used a regular box of yellow cake mix (P) and added sprinkles.  I also wanted to switch up the filling from last year.  I made a marshmallow filling similar to one used in whoopie pies.  Instead of filling the cookies prior to baking though, I filled them after they cooled a bit.


Cake Mix Confetti Hamantachen

1 box cake mix (I used yellow)

2 Tbs. sprinkles (jimmies)

1 cup flour

2 Eggs

2 Tbs. Water

Marshmallow filling

Mix all the ingredients in a medium-sized bowl until a ball forms.  Roll out dough on a floured surface to approximately 1/8th inch.  Cut 3" circles and pinch closed in to triangle shapes.  Bake at 375 degree oven for about 10 minutes.  Remove cookies to cool on rack.  Fill with marshmallow filling using piping bag.

Marshmallow filling

1/2 cup veg. shortening or margarine

3/4 - 1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup marshmallow fluff

Add the shortening, 3/4 cup of sugar, and marchmallow fluff to the bowl of a mixer.  Mix ingredients together on a medium speed until a thick, speading consistency is reached.   Another 1/4 cup of powdered sugar may be needed to thicken the filling.  Transfer filling to a piping bag with a star tip, or a ziptop baggie. 

Cookies baked (without filling)

Finished cookie..yum!

Menu Plan Monday - 2/27/12

Oh, boy.  No real menu plan last week.  School was off for Winter Break, so we didn't have much of a plan.  Thankfully the weather was nice and warming up.  Spring allergies have started here.  I need to start planning (and baking) for Purim packages.  Here's a peek from last year.  I know we will be making the traditional ones, but the funfetti ones were such a hit I really feel like making them, too!  Perhaps I need to make an inventory of the baking supplies I have (oh, dear that's a job).  But before all of that, I need to make strawberry jam.  The Florida strawberries are rolling in to the stores now, which means soon enough our local u-pick farm will open.  Yeah, Spring is arriving!!!

Menu Plan:

Monday -   Chicken Continental with rice and sauteed spinach.

Tuesday -   Pasta night, veggies and dip.

Wednesday - Orange Beef, stir-veggies

Thursday - Homemade pizza

Friday - Baked tilapia, challah, not sure what else.

For more menu ideas, please visit MPM at orgjunkie.com

Purim Gifts

The baking is done and the gifts have gone out.  Here are a few pictures.  Happy Purim!