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Beginners in origami will like this one. Hamantaschen or hamantash, are triangular pocket-filled pastries associated with the Jewish holiday of Purim. The pastry texture can range between biscuit and cake but I prefer a more biscuity quality. Sweet fillings range from traditional options such as poppy seed, prune, apricot, chocolate, fig, and date to halva, caramel or cheese. Essentially, you can raid the larder and get creative with fillings.
Ingredients:
For the pastry:
160g plain flour
160g self-raising flour
65ml sunflower oil
1 egg
1 tbsp orange zest
½ tsp vanilla extract
¾ tsp baking powder
Egg wash
Icing sugar to dust
For the filling:
65g ground poppy seeds
65ml milk
25g sugar
15g butter
25g walnuts
15g raisins
¾ tsp golden syrup
½ tsp vanilla extract
Method:
For the pastry:
Beat the eggs until thick, then add the sugar, followed by the oil and vanilla. Add the flours and beat until you have a crumbly consistency. Place on a lightly floured work surface and knead to bring the dough together. Roll into a ball, cover with cling film and place in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour.
For the filling:
Grind the poppy seeds (in a coffee grinder) and then in a small saucepan heat them with the milk, butter, sugar and golden syrup until a thick paste forms. Take off the heat and add the raisins, nuts and vanilla.
Preheat oven to 180c. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
Take the dough out the fridge. Lightly dust the work surface with icing sugar and roll the pastry out to 0.3cm thick. Using a 7.5cm round cookie cutter, cut out rounds, then reroll the trimmings and cut more circles until all the dough is used.
Put a teaspoon of filling in each circle and draw the dough up to form a triangle (see diagram), then pinch the edges together. Place on the prepared baking tray and brush each with the egg wash.
Place in the oven and bake for appx 20 mins, until golden brown. Take out the oven, allow to cool and then dust with icing sugar.
Enjoy.
Gaby Van Clarke
None of us know what’s going to take us out. Life’s full of surprises. But we do know that the body starts to degenerate from about age 30 (more cells destroyed than created, barring excess weight gain) and also, crucially, that we can affect the speed of that ageing process.
Introduced by Portuguese merchants in the 16th century, and adapted over time to suit Japanese tastes, this light bouncy sponge is considered a traditional Japanese speciality. More delicate and airy than a regular sponge cake, castella ( カステラ, kasutera) is famous for a fine and moist crumb.
