Here are the first hamentashen of the year, going into the oven (yes, at 1 a.m.).
Dough – an incredibly sticky oily dough that is murder to work with until it gets a bit floured up. Didn’t help that I forgot the sugar. Doh! Poured it on top of the finished dough and did my best to mix it in with the hand mixer; dough was flying everywhere. The final result was a bit crunchy but hopefully the sugar was evenly distributed and it will all come out good in the baking.
Cookies – the classic prune lekvar filling from scratch with home-stewed prunes (ew!) and orange zest.
It is truly magical how they turn from cut-out circles into triangles. I have been doing it so long, I forget how wonderful it is… and then I see the kids watching me and I catch myself out of the corner of my eye, folding them up quick quick quick and remember. Circle… triangle! Circle… triangle! Amazing.
Only one opening up a bit, as you can see here (2nd from the left on the bottom row of 4, starting to gape even before going into the oven).
I think this is must be a good omen. May all our hamentashen this year remain intact and tightly closed.
On a very apropos note, I taught Naomi how to make foolproof triangles: anytime, anywhere. She was getting frustrated because every time she tried, they’d turn into squares. So I told her: make three dots, anywhere; easy. Now join the dots. She has been making fancy triangles all day since I showed her!
I never thought about this before… just kind of take it for granted: how to draw a triangle. I guess everybody has to learn sometime.
2 comments:
they look great! i do love hamantaschen making. you made your own filling from scratch!? you get serious hamantaschen-baker-of-the-year award!!!!
i learned about the egg wash technique - brush each circle before you close it up. it works like glue! (but tastes way better:-)
Well, not sure about the award because it ends up tasting pretty much like store-bought, but I figure I'm saving a couple of dollars. I sometimes wash with egg and sometimes not. The white dough I was using this time was very sticky and I figured egg would only make things worse. :-)
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