Grampa’s Cookies

It’s June sixth, friends, and today I’m baking hamantaschen. These little triangular cookies are traditional for the Jewish holiday of Purim, which tends to take place between February and March. I grew up eating these treats. We’d stop at our local kosher grocery to buy them in late winter each year. And then over time, well, the grocery hamantaschen lost their appeal. They weren’t the cookie I remembered. It was time to take on the process of creating my own recipe to achieve the perfect, sugar cookie consistency of the treat of my memories.

So here we are in June, and I’m breaking the rule. I’m preheating my oven to bake hamantaschen in the nearly summer heat. Because the best reason to break rules is someone you love.

Last week, we lost my Grampa Bud. He was 95. He and my grandmother drove across the country on the day of my birth to hold me, and they’ve held me ever since. I had him in my life for nearly 27 years, far more than I ever could have asked for, and they were beautiful, full, joyful years at that. By way of my mom, my Grampa instilled in me a love of classic old Jewish tradition, and that included mohn, a poppyseed paste used to fill traditional hamantaschen. Sure, you can find raspberry and apricot and chocolate hamantaschen by the dozen every year, but my heart is set on mohn. And so that is what I make.

In the last months of his life, as eating got tough for my Grampa, my incomparable grandmother made a valiant effort and picked up mohn-filled hamantaschen from the store in the hopes that might pique his interest. But like me, they found them dry and hard and flavorless, not to mention they were SORLEY lacking in filling. So later that week I brought home some homemade hamantaschen. He ate two of them in front of me… oh, and he hummed as he did (if you’re following the blog, you know Grampa Bud is the forefather of the Good Food Song TM). I got calls later that week about how they were the best he’d had, how the filling distribution was impeccable, and how he wouldn’t argue if he was offered more. It filled my heart like nothing else could. A week later I came back home specifically to make him more.

This week, as we’ve paged through photos and cried over memories while preparing for Shiva, I felt like I needed to bake. The whole thing is catered. I could bring myself and only myself. But if I’m remembering my dear Grampa Bud, I’d be remiss not to bake. Not to pour some love into a bowl of sugar and flour. Not to scavenge Boston for a jar of mohn in his honor.

I’ll be baking hamantaschen in June – because wherever he is, I know he’ll smile. Wherever he is, I know he’ll boast about how darn much filling there is in this little triangle. And I’ll get to feel just a little closer to him.

My Perfect Mohn Hamantaschen

• 1 stick of butter (your favorite margarine is totally fine! They may just spread a little more in the over so leave space)
• 3/4 cup of white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• 1 and 1/3 cups of flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp milk (regular, oat, etc…)
• Zest of an orange, lemon, lime… whatever you heart desires, in any amount. I like to use half of an orange.
• Mohn (or Poppy Seed Pastry Filling)

In a stand mixer (or with a hand held mixer OR in a food processor!), whip butter and sugar together until smooth. Add your egg and vanilla and mix until well blended. In a separate bowl, combine your dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking powder, and your citrus zest. Mix to combine, and then add to the butter mixture, mixing on low and then medium to combine. Your dough will be dry… add the milk! You are looking for a fluffy playdough-like consistency. Pat your dough into a thick circle, wrap in plastic, and stick it in the freezer for 20 minutes to an hour.

Once chilled, flour a clean surface and roll your dough out, roughly 1/4 inch thick. Using a cookie cutter (let’s be real, I use the 3.5 inch diameter top of a mason jar) cut out your cookies and place onto a parchment lined baking sheet. You can fold up and re-roll your dough as much as you’d like to get more cookies.

To fill, place a teaspoon of filling in the middle of each cookie. Folding in the sides, pinch each edge together over the filling (three in total) so you are left with a triangle shake and a small peek-a-boo of filling at the center. To avoid your cookies losing their shape, brush any spare flour off of your circles before placing them on the baking sheet, and crimp the edges with a heavier hand.

Preheat your oven to 350ºF and place your baking sheets in the freezer while the oven warms (10 minutes is ideal). Bake at 350ºF for roughly 13 minutes… BUT! Oven heat differs. Your oven may run super hot or super cold, so keep an eye on your trays. Pull them when the edges start to brown and let them cool on the trays before moving them.

Enjoy, and think of Grampa Bud when you do.