Full disclosure: I’m not a fan of poppy seeds. Oh, I like them as a topping, that is sprinkled over a challah or a Kaiser roll but poppy-seed fillings don’t do it for me. My favorite hamentasch filling is lekvar, either prune or apricot. Until I read Matthew Goldman’s remarkable cookbook, “Jewish Food, the World at Table,” I thought that you had to choose one or make two kinds of hamentasch fillings.
But Goodman offers another option-combine all three fillings into one and his recipe includes all three. I’ve adapted, deleting the poppy seeds to make a delicious homemade lekvar with both apricots and prunes together which I used inside of Goodman’s dough. And it’s wonderful. Light, not too sweet and amazingly-free of the two Purim scourges, sugar and margarine.
To his eternal credit, Goodman acknowledges that his recipes are culled and cribbed from others and for this one, he gives credit to Selma Cherkas of Worcester, Mass. Thank you Selma
Dough-from Matthew Goodman via Selma Cherkas
2 1/2 cups flour-I used white
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup honey
1 T lemon juice (in a pinch you can use water)
1 tsp vanilla
Mix together by hand or machine into a soft dough, adding additional flour if it’s too sticky. Cover in plastic wrap or in a plastic bag and refrigerate for at least one hour. Meanwhile make the filling
This is my original
1/2 container of sunsweet pitted prunes
6 dried apricots
Water to cover
Simmer on low flame until soft, Then blend with immersion blender
To make hamentaschen, roll out the dough as thin as you can. Then using a round cookie cutter or cup cut into circles. Put 1/2 tsp of the filling in the center and fold up on three sides to form a triangle.
Preheat oven to 350 or 180 C
Bake until brown 12-15 minutes depending on the strength of your oven.