Hamentaschen (Feasts of Purim Cookies)

We are studying ancient history right now with the kids.  We've reached the Persian Empire days and it's been quite enlightening!  Floating bridges, conquering armies, the orginal postal system and.. ah, yes!.... the story of Esther (Hadas'sah).  The Feasts of Purim actually don't occur until February/March-ish... but we decided that since this is the season of Thanksgiving... why not!  We're a having our feast tomorrow along with making the Hamentaschen Cookies for the neighbors and finishing our "shoeboxes" for the poor (actually Operation Christmas Child... but it works).

I was totally excited to find a gluten free version of the triangle cookie (said to be shaped like the hat of Haman... "boo...hiss!"). 

Check out this website for more info on the Feasts and other interesting info.
http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday9.htm

Hamentaschen

2/3 cup butter or Spectrum margarine

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg  (we will use the flax-egg replacer)

1/4 cup orange juice (the smooth kind, not the pulpy)

2 cups GF buckwheat
1/2 milled flaxseed
1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

Various preserves, fruit butters and/or pie fillings.

Blend butter and sugar thoroughly. Add the egg (or replacer ) and blend thoroughly. Add OJ and blend thoroughly. Add flour, 1/2 cup at a time, alternating buckwheat and flax seed, blending thoroughly between each. Add the baking powder and cinnamon with the last half cup of flour. Refrigerate batter overnight or at least a few hours. Roll as thin as you can without getting holes in the batter (roll it between two sheets of wax paper lightly dusted with flour for best results). Cut out 3 or 4 inch circles.

Put a dollop of filling in the middle of each circle. Fold up the sides to make a triangle, folding the last corner under the starting point, so that each side has corner that folds over and a corner that folds under (see picture at right). Folding in this "pinwheel" style will reduce the likelihood that the last side will fall open while cooking, spilling out the filling. It also tends to make a better triangle shape.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes, until golden brown but before the filling boils over!

Traditional fillings are poppy seed and prune, but apricot is yum. Apple butter, pineapple preserves, and cherry pie filling all work quite well.

The number of cookies this recipe makes depends on the size of your cutting tool and the thickness you roll. I use a 4-1/4 inch cutting tool and roll to a medium thickness, and I get 20-24 cookies out of this recipe.

The resulting hamentaschen will have an unusual pumpernickel color, but they taste great!

Make sure the buckwheat flour you use is wheat-free/gluten-free! Sometimes buckwheat flour is mixed with white or wheat flour. The Hodgson Mill buckwheat and flax linked above are gluten-free and have reliable kosher certification.

List of Dates

Purim will occur on the following days of the Gregorian calendar:

Jewish Year 5769: sunset March 9, 2009 - nightfall March 10, 2009

Jewish Year 5770: sunset February 27, 2010 - nightfall February 28, 2010

Jewish Year 5771: sunset March 19, 2011 - nightfall March 20, 2011

Jewish Year 5772: sunset March 7, 2012 - nightfall March 8, 2012

Jewish Year 5773: sunset February 23, 2013 - nightfall February 24, 2013