Parenting Win of the Week: Hamantaschen

A delicious tradition with an important meanging behind it.

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Top view hamantaschen cookies and colorful candies on a baking paper with napkin on a gray background.

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Top view hamantaschen cookies and colorful candies on a baking paper with napkin on a gray background.

Photo by: Galiya Assan / 500px

Galiya Assan / 500px

Purim is on March 16th. If you aren’t Jewish, you are likely unfamiliar with the holiday. It’s most comparable to Mardi Gras or Halloween in that it’s full of festive celebrations and carnivals. Kids dress up and play games and there is a ton of fun to be had. The story itself is one of survival and it has an incredible female heroine, Queen Esther. If you want to read more in depth, you can do so here.

There is one part of Purim I love the most and that is Hamantaschen. These triangle shaped cookies represent Haman’s hat. Haman was the bad guy in the Purim story who Queen Esther triumphed over. We eat these cookies as symbolism for the Jewish victory over this nasty character who tried to rise to power and kill the Jews.

These cookies are not only fun and delicious to eat — the triangles are filled with a yummy center — but they are also fun to make!

The world is your oyster, or in this case your hamantaschen, where you can fill the center with everything from apricot jam to nutella. The most popular versions are apricot, cherry, and poppyseed, but get creative. I’ve seen cookies stuffed with cookie dough, pizza filling, anything you could imagine.

I asked our friends over at Breads Bakery in New York, if they could share a recipe with us for their Hamantaschen, and a few tips on how to make it easier to do with kids.

Their recipe is for Apple Hamantaschen, but if the filling is complicated, grab a jar of jam or Nutella. The thicker the better.

They also offered this advice:

Another tip for kids would be to roll the dough out, cut the hexagons/circles, and then refrigerate them for about 5-10 minutes on a sheet pan and pull out a few at a time to work on. They're easier to handle when the dough is a little colder, as long as they can still fold without breaking.

Ready to try your hand at the glorious triangle cookie? We have made them for many years and even if our triangles may not be perfect, they are still really fun to make.

If you have a tough time, Breads does have theirs for sale for national delivery. Enjoy!

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