Hamantaschen Test Kitchen #5: Aunt Dora's Recipe

This is my history.

I used to make these hamantaschen with my mom. Every year.

We used this recipe, from my great-aunt Dora. My mom followed her around (when she was pregnant with me) and wrote down exactly what she did.

Aunt Dora's Hamantaschen Dough
2 sticks margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
6 eggs
5-6 cups flour
4 rounded teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla

Pre-sift together flour and baking powder. Start with 5 cups. If necessary, use the 6th cup in preparation of the dough. Beat margarine and sugar til creamy. Add eggs one at a time. Add the flour/baking powder mixture. Add the 6th if necessary. Add vanilla. Mix well.

Roll out very thin (the original recipe said "on wooden board with rolling pin" - do you think there was magic in that wooden board? Must have been. I use Roul-Pat.), cut circles with rim of glass, put in filling. Make the hamantaschen. Bake at 350 until real light brown. Watch your oven, do not over-bake.
(Yep, there wasn't a time listed. I think about 15 minutes.)

My mom even made Aunt Dora's fillings. All are delicious. Worth the work, I tell you.

PoppySeed Filling
1 can Solo poppy seed filling
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon margarine
1/2 cup chopped nuts
lemon juice

Mix all ingredients together, place in pot on the stove. Stir constantly and bring to a boil. Continue to stir and turn down heat to simmer. Add lemon juice (if ncessary to unsweeten) to taste. Simmer for a few minutes. DO NOT LET THE MIXTURE BURN. Remove from heat. Allow to cool, use for filling.

Prune Filling
1 lb pitted prunes
1/2 lb raisins
1 small jar cherry preserves
1 cup chopped nuts

Grind prunes and raisins in food grinder (or electric mixer or blender). In bowl add mixture and cherry preserves and chopped nuts. Mix together, ready for filling.

Apricot Filling
1 can Solo apricot filling
1 package dried apricots (around 6 oz)
1/2 cup water
lemon juice and sugar

Steam the dried apricots in covered pot of water to soften. Remove from water, chop. In bowl mix apricots and filling. Add, if necessary, sugar (to sweeten) or lemon juice (to unsweeten) to taste. Ready for filling.

Wasn't I a cutie-pie?
Yes, this is me and not my daughter. 

Previous Hamantaschen Test Kitchen posts here:
Cream Cheese Dough
Gingerbread?
Gluten Free Hamantaschen
Chocolate!

My Inner Bubbie: Mandelbrot

One of the things that my Bubbie made all the time was mandelbrot. If you're not familiar with this cookie, it's basically a Jewish biscotti.

Confession: I'm not a huge fan.

I mean, I like them and all. But they're not my favorite. Too crunchy, too crumbly. Good, but not life-changing.

Confession #2: Not only have I never made them before, I have never seen anyone make them before.

Yep, never followed Bubbie around the kitchen for these puppies. I have perfected her carrot cake, so you can see where my priorities lie.

So when a request was made for mandelbrot, I had to go back to the source. I called my mom, who has both of my Bubbies' recipes (both are, thank God, still living, but neither one bakes any more...in their mid-90s, both of them!)...and she scanned them in for me.

Bubbie Rose:

Bubbie Raye:

Both clearly well-worn and well-used recipe cards. What the heck is Spry? Turns out, it's like Crisco.

So, without any Spry, I knew that oil would be my fat of choice. Then I opened every single Jewish cookbook I own (I think there are about 10), enlisted my mom and my mother-in-law in their recollection of mandelbrot baking, and even made a phone call to Bubbie Rose while baking. I knew she'd kvell that I was making mandelbrot, and I figured it didn't hurt to question an expert...

So here's the recipe I adapted from a conglomeration of sources:

Traditional (?) Mandelbrot

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 cup canola oil
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts lightly toasted
3 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together eggs, sugar, oil, baking powder, salt and vanilla. Add 3 cups of flour and stir with a wooden spoon. (Okay, Bubbie said "use a wooden spoon, or whatever you want to mix it.) Add more flour if you think it's too sticky. If you never made it before, don't add any extra flour because it's probably fine.

Add the chopped nuts, and stir them in.

On a cookie sheet lined with parchment (or greased, but I'm a parchment gal), shape into logs. I think mine were a little too wide.

Bake for about 22 minutes. (The logs above are actually cooked, it's hard to tell.)
Remove from oven, and while hot, slice the logs, like so:
(According to my dad AND my mom, this is the time to "snitch" one off the cookie sheet. I agree. They're really good soft and hot.)

Turn the slices on their sides. Some people sprinkle here with cinnamon and sugar. Bubbie said "I never did that but I know that other people like to." When I questioned her about chocolate chips, she said: "Well, I don't like all that extra stuff in there. But some people like to." She's very open to alternative ideas, my bubbie. Bake for another 15-20 minutes or until they're crunchy and brown.

And there you have your mandelbrot. Mine didn't last long, I brought them in for the Hebrew School teachers. They were well-received. They did not taste like Bubbie's as I recall them...maybe I'll have to try out some Spry.

I plan to make them again this week with my mom, so she can lend a more practiced eye. I think I would chop the nuts more finely, but others said that they liked that there was a bite to the nuts. This experience opened me up to a lot of things I've never made, let alone watched anyone else make. For example, I've never made rugelach, or teigelach, or even keneidlach. I've seen kreplach made, but never done it myself. What other great old Jewish foods are out there that I don't know how to make? I'm a hamantashen maven. So...now I'm going to learn. Rugelach are next in the new series here at Ima on and off the Bima... "My Inner Bubbie." Stay tuned!

By the way, I heard that Creative Jewish Mom was hosting a link-up party for Jewish crafts and recipes today (tomorrow?) so I might update with a link over to that.

Making History Today

Today we make history.

Today we inaugurate a President who is not defined by the color of his skin but by the content of his character.

May my children be blessed to know no different in the world.

May God bless Barack Obama and the United States of America.

Living History...Wordless Wednesday

Not a political blog. Just a statement about history. 

(and aren't they cute?)