Monday Munchies...

Purim Edition!

Purim is a holiday celebrated Saturday and Sunday this year.
The traditional food for this holiday is a triangular cookie called a hamantaschen.  

I'm sure many of you are familiar with them, they sell them in our supermarket, fresh, all year round! 

Some popular fillings are raspberry, apricot, prune and poppyseed.  

In recent years people have begun making chocolate ones...but really, they can be filled with anything that tickles your fancy.

I will post tomorrow with pictures of our costumes, but think Grease! 

On this holiday we give out, what I will describe as goody bags to our friends and neighbors.  

So, going along with my Grease theme, I bought glass bottles of Coke from Costco, and had gotten the idea of mini apple pies from my friend.

However, because I'm traditional, I couldn't forgo the hamantaschen, and I thought it would be over the top to spend the time on hamantaschen and then bake apple pies.  

So, me and my geniousness thought-why not merge the two?

Apple pie hamantaschen.  

I knew that regular apple pie filling wouldn't work because the apples are not sliced small enough.

Enter the oh so wonderful Pinterest.  

Now, I stuck with my tried and true hamantaschen dough recipe-it's my grandmothers.

Hamantaschen

1 cup margarine

2 cups sugar

6 eggs

6 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder]

1/2 teaspoons vanilla

 

 Cream margarine and sugar.  Add in the eggs.  Mix in the flour one cup at a time.  Add in baking powser and vanilla.  Refrigerate for at least one hour-I refrigerate over night just to help break up the process, as I usually double, or more, the recipe so it's always a long night of baking.  

 

Flour any surface, and roll out your dough.  I do a small mound at a time and I use my hands to pound it out into a thin layer.  I then take a glass and begin cutting it into circles.  

 

Apple pie filling

2 apples, shredded (about 2 cups packed)

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon cornstarch

 

Shred the apples in a food processor, and add the remaining sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch.  I found that the apples quickly became liquidy.  So not only did I drain the standing liquid, but as I took each teaspoon of filling, I squeezed out the liquid.  Spread egg white around the edges of the dough and lightly pinch the sides together to close it into a triangle.  I had never heard of this step before, and I can say without a doubt, although it adds another tedious step, it is well worth it. 

 

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until turns very lightly browned.  

Once they have cooled off, you can make your glaze.

Glaze

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar 

2 tablespoons milk or sugar (I used water, and started off with less since water isn't as thick.  I would have used almond milk had I had any on hand.)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla. 

The original recipe calls for adding all ingredients to a plastic bag, kneading, it and then snipping off a corner.  I did it that way, but next time I will mix it in a bowl and then pour into a plastic bag.  Drizzle away!  Then let them sit out for some time so the glaze can harden.

These hamantaschen got rave reviews, and I think I will make this version tradition...