Homemade Prune Filling

It is will great disgrace that I realize I haven't blogged in a year. But it's been a rough year. We know it's been at least a Jewish calendar year since my last post was about Hamentaschen. I just wanted to share again, the amazing Prune Butter recipe I found last year from Tori Avey. You can find her Lekvar Plum Butter recipe in full, with stunning pictures, here.This year, I felt comfortable enough with the consistency and idea of the recipe to freehand it a bit. I also did not remember to get the oranges I needed so I had to improvise... this was a common problem for me this year... being 6 months pregnant, my brain seems to have taken a vacation to Hawaii. I also forgot the lemon juice for the hamentaschen dough recipe (you can find that recipe here). What I learned is that white vinegar can substitute nicely for lemon juice. It gives the acidity but no flavor. It worked fine but (baby brain) I left the dough too long before I baked them (think 2 days) and it dried out so I had to start over. Fortunately then I had lemons and added the juice. It really does give it a nice zing.Anyway, here is my modified Plum Butter recipe that I used this year. My proportions are cut in a quarter from Tori's recipe. That was plenty for me to make half a batch of prune. Last year I had a ton of filling left over. I only make one batch these days but ... maybe I will be making more for preschool classes in the near future B'H!Kosher, She Eats Modified Plum Butter recipe (with ultimate gratitude to Tori Avey!)[ingredients]DON'T LET THESE MEASUREMENTS DRIVE YOU CRAZY! I only had a 1/2 cup of prunes so that informed the whole thing. I just felt it out. It needed a bit more water while it was cooking so I added it. I also used white bakers sugar because I couldn't find my brown sugar.Directions:

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan except for the brown sugar. Stir and bring to a boil for one minute.
2. Reduce heat to medium low so the mixture simmers slowly and constantly. Cover the pot. Let the mixture simmer covered for 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes.
3. Remove the lid from the pan. Let the prunes continue to simmer for 3-5 more minutes, stirring frequently, until most of the liquid has evaporated/absorbed. Keep a close eye on the pan to make sure the prunes don't burn. When there are about 3 tbsp of liquid left in the pan, remove from heat.
4. Stir the brown sugar into the prune mixture till brown sugar melts and dissolves.
5. Mash the prune mixture with a potato masher till a smooth puree forms. Run a fork through the mixture to break up any pieces the potato masher missed. You can also use an immersion blender for a smoother puree, if you want to.
6. Let cool to room temperature before using. Store in a sealed, airtight container in the refrigerator. Refrigerating the filling to chill completely will make it easier to work with when filling hamantaschen.

These are Tori's instructions. They work pretty darn well. I was using a tiny saucepan since it was a small batch. We got a 0.5 quart all-clad butter warmer for our wedding. It was the best gift ever (thanks Joan!) because Dan uses it to warm his cream up in the mornings and I use it for tiny projects like this. Only downside is, it doesn't have a lid. So I did the recipe uncovered. It would have absorbed better covered but it worked just fine. So if you lost your brain (like me) or are in a rush (like me) you won't ruin it if you don't cover it. I also didn't let it cool fully before I used it and didn't mash the prunes enough. I tossed it in the fridge while I did the poppyseed filling and then used it. It was fine but she is right, it will work better cooled. As for the lack of mashing... it didn't seem like enough to use an immersion blender. And the pot was too small for a potato masher... so I violently attacked it with a fork. If I had more time, I might have used two forks. As people have been eating them, there are larger chunks of prune than I would prefer.Regardless of all of my shortcuts and changes, it's a tasty recipe and is now permanently in my arsenal. Now I need a homemade poppyseed filling... anyone have any good ones? 

Great Hamentaschen Bake Off of 2014

I know this post is late. I know! But how can you have a Great Hamentaschen Bake Off before Purim! And then I was a slacker. I admit it. A friend of mine and I decided to have a bake off. My recipe can be found here - We Put The Mon in Hamentaschen. This year I made my own plum filling from a recipe I found at The Shiksa In The Kitchen. Here is her recipe. I will give you Megan's recipes for the dough and the insides as well as my doctored recipe for the plum filling.

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Megan's Fancy (and Delicious) Hamentaschen:Dough Ingredients:

1. 1 cube butter or margarine
2. 1 cup sugar
3. 3 eggs
4. 1 tsp baking powder
5. 1/2 tsp baking soda
6. 3 1/2-4 cups flour
7. 1/3 cup orange juice

Dough Preparation:

1. Cream the butter and sugar
2. Add eggs
3. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl (start with 3 1/2 cup flour)
4. Alternate dry & wet ingredients
5. Add more flour if dough is too sticky to roll
6. Roll dough and cut into circles
7. Fill with dried fruit mix
8. Wet finger and dampen edge of dough circle
9. Squeeze circle together in 3 places to form triangle
10. Brush with beaten egg and bake at 375° for around 15 minutes

Dried Fruit Filling Ingredients:Around 3oz of each:

1. Prunes (pitted)
2. Raisins
3. Dried apricots
4. Dried cranberries
5. Dried figs
6. Dried dates (pitted)

Plus some strawberry jam

Dried Fruit Filling Preparation:

1. Chop fruit up in food processor. If you don't have one and you are cutting by hand put some oil on the knife to keep it from getting gummed up by the dried fruit.
2. Put all chopped fruit together in bowl and mix in strawberry jam until everything is mixed together.

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KSE Version of Plum Butter Hamentaschen Filling:Ingredients (This makes a lot! You can reduce by half!):

1. 1/4 cup orange liquor (I used Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur and Ferrand Dry Orange Curacao)
2. 2 cups pitted prunes
3. 1 cup water
4. 1 tsp orange zest
5. 1/4 tsp salt
6. 1/3 cup brown sugar

Preparation:

1. First thing, if you are using the liquor method, put it in a small saucepan and cook off some of the liquor.
2. Next add the rest of the ingredients EXCEPT THE BROWN SUGAR into a pan. Stir and bring to a boil for one minute.
3. Reduce heat to medium low so the mixture simmers slowly and constantly. Cover the pot. Let the mixture simmer covered for 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes.
4. Remove the lid from the pan. Let the prunes continue to simmer for 3-5 more minutes, stirring frequently, until most of the liquid has evaporated/absorbed. Keep a close eye on the pan to make sure the prunes don't burn. When there are about 3 tbsp of liquid left in the pan, remove from heat.
5. Stir the brown sugar into the prune mixture till brown sugar melts and dissolves.
6. Mash the prune mixture with a fork. You can also use an immersion blender for a smoother puree, if you want to. (She recommended a potato masher... large fork worked perfect for me!)
7. Let cool to room temperature before using. Store in a sealed, airtight container in the refrigerator. Refrigerating the filling to chill completely will make it easier to work with when filling hamantaschen.

We put the Mon in Hamantaschen!

I know I know, the headline is silly. But here's something you may not know (unless you speak Yiddish or German), the word hamantaschen means 'poppy seed pockets' montashn in Yiddish or mohntaschen in German. Mon is poppy seed and taschen means pockets. They are also called oznai Haman or Haman's ears in Hebrew. It has become a modern folklore that Haman wore a three-cornered hat and thus we are eating his hat.

Whoa whoa, slow down now. Who is this Haman character? Well it's all related to my favorite holiday, Purim. I could be partial because I was born on Purim but I just love it! Traditionally we eat these little pockets filled with many delicious flavors but the two traditional flavors are poppy seed (mon) and plum (I refuse to call it prune because they get a bad rap). Plum happens to be my favorite but you can make them with any filling. I prefer the Solo fillings which are Kosher dairy. They are the best brand, in my opinion, with great flavors and fillings of the right consistency. You can find them in just about any grocery store.

If you want to learn more about the holiday of Purim, I suggest going here.

Now, I am about to share something very special with you... my special Hamantaschen recipe. This was given to me by a dear friend and truly is the best dough I have ever found for Hamantaschen. Please use and enjoy and please credit us for this recipe.

Hamantaschen

• 1 1/4 cups of sugar

• 4 eggs

• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 cup oil

Mix these together. Then add:

• 5 cups of flour (I mix whole wheat and white. You may need more oil because the whole wheat sucks it up.)

• 1 Tablespoon baking powder (only have baking soda? That's okay, click here for my magical recipe to make baking POWDER from baking SODA... and NO they are NOT interchangeable.)

• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

You will also need one 10-12oz jar of fruit filling per recipe. (Again, I like Solo but Baker's also works. Thick jams can work too.)

1. Mix the dough until it clings together and is smooth - when it is too stiff to mix with a spoon or mixer, mix the dough with your hands.

2. Roll the dough out on a floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick.

3. Cut out circles (I use a glass) and put the excess dough back in the bowl to be re-rolled.

4. Put approx 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of filling in the middle of the circle. It depends on the size of your circle.

5. Fold the dough up into a triangle shape and pinch closed. Leave an opening at the top for the filling to show through.

6. Place cookies on an UNGREASED cookie sheet approx 1/2 inch apart.

7. Re-roll the dough until all is used.

8. Bake at 350 degrees for 19-21 minutes or until light brown (WATCH THEM! You don't want black bottoms on your cookies!)

9. Place on cooling rack and store in airtight containers.

This recipe should make 40-44 cookies.

A special shout out to the World's Greatest Hamantaschen Maker who taught me everything I know and shared this recipe with me. Thanks Mommy Schlammy! :)