Off The Shelf - 'The Jewish Cookbook' by Leah Koenig

Kath May 20, 2020

Bought at: it was gifted to me for Christmas.

Recipes Made: Jewelled Rice p.174, Chicken and Quince Tagine p.269, Babka p.324, Yeasted Hamantaschen p.342, Candied Quince p.404, Charoset pp.406-409 and Lekvar p.410.

I made the Jewelled Rice on the same night I made the Chicken and Quince Tagine, and wow did I use a lot of pots of pans that night! This is no simple rice dish, but it is very tasty and beautiful. For a more simple version in the future, I would probably make the baked rice with salsa from ‘Simple’ by Ottolenghi as I definitely found it hard to co-ordinate all the pots and pans on the stove and the cooking times to have everything ready along with the Chicken and Quince Tagine.

Chicken and Quince Tagine + Jewelled Rice

The Chicken and Quince Tagine was a big hit, and after the quince are candied it’s not a difficult dish to make you just need a little time. I’d never had quince with chicken and of course it was a great pairing. I did use the recipe for Candied Quince from the book as the recipe says, but I think if you already had some poached quince you could definitely use that. I am hoping to make this again whilst quince are still about, I liked it so much!

When I was making Babka a few months ago, I consulted a few recipes one of which was the Babka recipe in this book. Comparing recipes was really helpful, and the recipe I ended up with can be found here. The recipe in this book was for a Cinnamon-Golden Raisin Babka which I definitely need to go back and try without making any of my own adaptations!

I had been wanting to try Yeasted Hamantaschen for a while, only ever having made the more shortcrust biscuit like version before. I was delighted when I saw Leah had a recipe for Yeasted Hamantaschen in her book, and I made my own version with Quince Lekvar. I altered the quantities of flour a little from the original recipe, check out my blog post on this recipe for more if you want to try making them (and for more information on what hamantaschen are and when they are traditionally made see this post!).

I was intrigued by the Candied Quince in this book, and I wasn’t sure what the end result would be. I was sort of imagining candied fruit like you would candy orange slices etc, but this actually ended up being more a quicker version of poaching quince. I didn’t find my quince turned a deep ruby red (I’m not sure if this was to do with the variety of quince I used), but once added to the Chicken and Quince Tagine the colour really didn’t matter as the taste was so good!

In the lead up to the Jewish holiday of Passover I decided I wanted to play around and create my own version of Charoset. Charoset is traditionally eaten as part of the Passover Seder, and comprises fruit (dried and often fresh apple too) and sweet wine. Leah has six different Charoset recipes in this book, all from different parts of the Jewish diaspora. They all have some things in common but also differ slightly in other ways too. I took the parts of each I really liked - rolling Charoset into balls like the Kurdish version and using a combination of dates, figs and a variety of spices like the Yemenite version - to create my own.

Lekvar was something I had never heard of before. It is a fruit paste used in Central and Eastern European sweets made using dried friut and fruit juice. Prune and apricot are popular versions, but this got me thinking about other dried fruits I could use. I love dried quince, and decided to give making Lekvar a go with it, and it worked so well. I used my Lekvar to fill the Yeasted Hamantaschen I made and used the remainder to fill some untraditional rugelach made with cream cheese dough from the book ‘Beatrix Bakes’ (which were delicious!).

Beatrix Bakes Rugelach with Quince Lekvar

Favourite Things About the Book: My favourite thing about this book is how comprehensive it is. This really could be the one cookbook you own on Jewish food and you would have enough recipes to keep you going forever. And it covers the foods of the wider Jewish diaspora, not just the more common recipes from Eastern Europe (as good as those are!). There are recipes from Jews native to Italy, India, Georgia, Iraq and South Africa. There are even a few recipes which are relics from Jewish life in pre-Inquisition Spain and Spanish occupied Italy.

This book feels so well researched and collated, Leah has done such a great job of providing really interesting recipes and insights about their history, without the book tipping over into a reference book or making the reader feel overwhelmed with information. It remains firmly in the cookbook category, and even despite the lack of food photography (the book is 431 pages so images for each recipe isn’t possible), I find Leah’s writing and the information she is sharing through these recipes so engaging. Each time I pick this book up a different recipe stands out to me, and another post it note goes in to mark it’s importance. And as you can see in the photos of my copy, I have used a LOT of post it notes in this book - which is purely a testament to how many great recipes there are in this book.

Leah really highlights and champions the diversity within Jewish cuisine, showing those of us who are still learning about the world’s Jewish communities and their food, how much more there is to discover outside of bagels and babka (though naturally recipes for both these carb filled delights that we all know and love are in the book too!).

Bookmarked Recipes (to make later!): Caponata alla Giudia p.116, Vegetarian Cholent p.144, Jewish-Style Braised Fennel p.158, Potato Laktes p.184, Eggplant and Tomato Stew p.249, Mandelbrot p.334, Almond Cardamom Cookies p.348.

Traditional Yeast Hamantaschen with Quince Lekvar

Yeasted Hamantaschen with Quince Lekvar

Kath February 25, 2020

This year I was determined to make hamantaschen again, but this time with the more traditional yeasted dough. I loved my Pistachio Hamantaschen I made last year, but I really wanted to have a comparison with a more traditional hamantaschen.

For those who have never heard of hamantaschen before, they are made to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim (see links at the end of this post to find out more). They are kind of like a cross between a biscuit and a pastry with a sweet tasty filling, and the triangular shape has great symbolism for the holiday. Check out my post from last year to find out a little more.

I tried to stay as traditional as I could with this, but me being me, and not being bound by any Purim traditions of my own, I altered a prune filling (or Lekvar) recipe to include dried quince and dried pears. Mostly because quince is my third favourite flavour (coming in close after rose and pistachio which alternate between spots one and two), and I have access to amazing dried quince from Singing Magpie Produce, which I knew would taste amazing cooked into a lekvar.

I heavily leaned on Leah Koenig’s new book ‘The Jewish Cookbook’ to produce this hamantaschen recipe. Leah’s book is my new ultimate resource on Jewish cooking, spanning all diasporas and nationalities and all types of meals and holidays. If you just want one book to show you the ways of Jewish cooking and baking, this is it. I (somewhat ironically I admit) received this book as a gift for Christmas, and it has maintained its spot as my most looked at cookbook since then.

Folding Hamantaschen

The Jewish Cookbook by Leah Koenig

I was delighted to find a yeasted hamantaschen dough in Leah’s book, as I had already decided I wanted to try this type of dough for my next hamantaschen attempt! And out of the many cookbooks I own, it is the only one to contain such a recipe. Leah also provides many hamantaschen filling options, and I was particularly intrigued by the fruit lekvar traditional to Central and Eastern Europe. Lekvar is a thick jammy paste made using dried fruits and juice. I adapted Leah’s Prune Lekvar recipe to create my Quince Lekvar, but you could stick to prunes if you can’t find any dried quince. If you can get your hands on fresh quince, a quince butter would also make a great substitute for the lekvar (see my Cosy Winter Bakes eBook for a Quince Butter recipe).

A yeasted hamantaschen definitely takes a bit more time and effort than a more shortbread pastry hamantaschen (see my recipe last year for a good one), but it is worth the effort. I found my first dough attempt didn’t work, I think because I am baking in a more humid climate and my dough just became unbelievably sticky and wet and barely rose at all. I have slightly altered the quantities of flour in the recipe, and continue to generously add more flour as I knead the dough. This is quite an intuitive recipe (which is why I suggest kneading by hand rather than using a stand mixer), and depending on your climate, you may not need nearly as much flour as I did. For reference the original recipe says to start with 350g, and up to 70g more if needed. On my second attempt I added that total amount (420g), then I added more when I was kneading and my dough worked out much better.

Quince Lekvar

Ingredients:

200g dried quince

100g dried pears (or dried apple)

120ml cloudy apple juice

175ml water

4 tbsp panela sugar

1 tbsp honey

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Place the quince, pears, apple juice, water and panela sugar in a small saucepan. Over low-medium heat bring to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat to low and cover the saucepan with its lid. Cook the fruit, stirring every now and then, for about 25-35 minutes or until the fruit has softened and most of the liquid has been absorbed.

Take the pan off the heat, and puree the fruit with a stick blender. Stir in the honey, cinnamon, cardamon and vanilla then allow to cool completely before storing covered or in an airtight container in the fridge.

Makes approx. 580g.

Yeasted Hamantaschen

Ingredients:

7g dried yeast

150g + 1 tsp caster sugar

120ml warm water

420g plain flour, plus extra

pinch of salt

60ml canola oil, plus extra

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

360g (approx.) Quince Lekvar

Method:

In a large bowl stir together the yeast, warm water and the 1tsp caster sugar. Leave for 5-10 minutes until it has become frothy.

In a smaller bowl, whisk together the remaining 150g caster sugar, flour and salt.

Add two of the eggs, oil and vanilla extract to the activated yeast and whisk to combine.

Add the flour, and mix.

Generously dust your work surface with more flour, and tip the dough out. Dust the dough with flour, and begin to knead. This dough can be quite sticky, so continue to knead and add flour until the dough becomes more manageable and elastic. Knead for about 10 minutes, the dough will still be a little sticky, but once it becomes smoother and more elastic it will be ready to prove.

Lightly oil a large bowl with a little more of the canola oil, and place the dough in. Cover with cling film and leave in a warm spot for 1.5-2 hours or until the dough has doubled in size. This dough won’t rise as dramatically as a traditional bread dough, but if the size has at least doubled during the proofing time, then it will be ready for the next step.

Once the dough as proofed, line two to three trays with baking paper, and preheat oven to 180 degrees/170 degrees Celsius fan.

Lightly dust your work surface with more flour, and roll out half the dough (leave the other half covered in the bowl). Using a 7-8cm round cutter, cut out rounds of the dough and place in the prepared trays. Keep the scraps of dough and place to the side for now. Roll out the remaining dough and cut out with the cutter. Re-roll all the scraps, and cut out as before. The dough will become harder to work with now as it is becoming overworked. Discard any remaining scraps now, especially if you have cut out close to 30 rounds, and your trays are filled.

Place a teaspoon of the quince lekvar in the centre of each round. Shape the rounds of dough into the characteristic triangle shape by pinching one side into a corner, then folding the other side up to form two more corners. Ensure the corners are well sealed and stuck together. If you need some more tips on how to fold hamantashen take a look at this graphic made by The Nosher.

Loosely place some cling over the trays and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Crack the remaining egg into a glass and beat with a fork. Brush the tops of the hamantaschen with the egg, then place in the oven for about 18 minutes to cook. Rotate the trays in the oven about half way through to ensure the hamantaschen cook more evenly. The hamantaschen will be ready when they have puffed up a little and are golden.

These are best eaten the day they are made, but will keep in an airtight container for a few days.

Makes about 30 hamantaschen.

Reference: ‘The Jewish Cookbook’ by Leah Koenig (Phaidon Press Limited, 2019), pp.342 & 410. For more info on yeasted hamantaschen check out this post on the blog Poppy & Prune and this recipe on kosher.com.

Pistachio Challah Babka

Kath February 21, 2020

If you follow along regularly with the recipes I post on this blog, you will know pistachio is one of my most favourite flavours. I seem to be endlessly drawn to it, which means it makes its way into many things I bake.

And this babka is no exception. I have been wanting to make a babka for quite a while, and seeing as they aren’t sold widely in Sydney, making one myself was almost my only option if I wanted to eat one.

I decided to use a challah dough to make the babka, hence this recipes name ‘challah babka’. In my mind challah is the best kind of bread, so a babka could only be improved by using it. I always use the challah recipe from the Monday Morning Cooking Club’s first book, and it works really well every time.

Initially, I made my own pistachio and white chocolate butter (based on the recipe in my Cosy Winter Bakes eBook) for the babka filling. The taste and colour were amazing, but being a homemade nut butter the consistency was a little thick which made the filling hard to spread over the dough. This also made the distribution of the filling quite uneven throughout the cooked babka (as you can see in the images below).

I had made the filling this way to deliberately avoid using a jar of Italian crema di pistacchio, mostly due to the cost of it (between $14.95-$24.95 AUD/200g jar). However I also didn’t want to create a recipe that was difficult for others to replicate, and seeing as I have only recently found crema di pistacchio in a couple of stores here in Sydney, I am assuming it isn’t widely available, or available at all, in most places. And if you did find some, I would understand based on the price of it, that you might not want to use a whole jar of it in one recipe!

Cream di Pistacchio I used for my babka filling

Despite all that, a jar of crema di pistacchio turned out to be the perfect babka filling. Babka is often filled with Nutella, so something of that kind of consistency would be a perfect substitute. Crema di pistacchio has a wonderful creamy spreadable consistency similar to Nutella (it is essentially the pistachio version of Nutella after all), which makes it easy to spread over the dough and distributes more evenly amongst the babka as a result.

If you can find and are happy to use crema di pistacchio for your challah babka, you will end up with a fantastic result. If you prefer to make your own pistachio butter, the taste of your challah babka will still be amazing, you just might not get the wonderful dainty swirls of filling throughout your babka. Honestly either way the taste is amazing, and well worth making babka from scratch!

Click the button below for the Pistachio & White Chocolate Butter recipe I used for my first babka attempt. The recipe makes enough for one babka filling.

Pistachio Butter Recipe

Pistachio Challah Babka

Ingredients:

500g plain flour, plus extra

250ml warm water

9g dried yeast

85g caster sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1 egg, beaten

63ml canola or vegetable oil

200g crema di pistacchio

cooking spray

Ingredients for the Glaze:

50g white sugar

60ml water

Method:

Place the flour into a large bowl (one that fits your stand mixer if you have one). Make a well in the centre of the flour, then pour in the warm water. Add the yeast and 60g of the caster sugar and stir (don’t mix in the flour at this stage). Leave for 10-15 minutes, or until the yeast has become foamy.

Then add the salt and remaining sugar, stir again (don’t mix in the flour at this stage), and wait 5-10 minutes for the yeast to become foamy again.

Once the yeast is foamy, add the egg and the oil to the yeast mixture and combine. Then start to gradually incorporate the flour into the wet mixture. Once everything is combined, attach your bowl to your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, and knead on a medium speed for about five minutes. The dough will be smooth and a little sticky once done. If the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour (1-2 tbsp).

While the dough is kneading, lightly oil a large bowl.

Once the dough is ready, place into the oiled bowl and cover. Leave in a warm spot for 1-1.5 hours, or until the dough has risen and doubled in size.

Spray a 22 x 10 x 8.5cm (approx.) loaf tin with the cooking spray.

Once the dough has risen, flour your work surface and tip the dough out. Lightly flour the top of the dough to prevent it sticking to your rolling pin. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a rectangle (approx. 20 x 5cm).

Dust any excess flour from the top of the dough, then spread the crema di pistacchio over the surface of the dough.

Roll the dough tightly from one of the long edges to form a long log. Trim the ends off to neaten it up, and cut the log evenly down the middle.

Turn the cut side of each piece of dough so it is facing up, then twist the two strands of dough together. Tuck the ends under, and gently squash the dough from either end to make it a bit more tight if it has become quite long.

Place the dough into the prepared tin, cover and leave in a warm spot for about 30 minutes, or until the dough has risen.

While the dough is rising, preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Once the dough has risen, place in the oven for 40 minutes. Check after 20 minutes, and loosely place some foil over the top to prevent the babka from over browning.

While the babka is baking, make the glaze. Place the water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Allow it to come to the boil, and then simmer for 3-5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

The babka will be ready when it is golden on top, and sounds hollow when gently tapped. Remove babka from the oven, and place on a wire rack. Using a pastry brush, paint the top of the babka in about three layers of the syrup (this will help preserve the babka and stop it drying out), then leave to cool for 15-20 minutes.

Once the babka has had a little time to cool, remove from the tin, and either cut into slices and serve immediately or allow to cool completely then slice.

Babka like many homemade breads, is best eaten on the day it is made. If you won’t be eating all on day it is made, once the babka has cooled, cut into slices and freeze each individually.

References: ‘Monday Morning Cooking Club - The Food, The Stories, The Sisterhood’ by Merelyn Frank Chalmers, Natanya Eskin, Lauren Fink, Lisa Goldberg, Paula Horwitz and Jacqui Israel (HarperCollins, 2013), p.263; ‘The Jewish Cookbook’ by Leah Koenig (Phaidon Press Limited, 2019), p.324; ‘Breaking Breads’ by Uri Scheft (Artisan, 2016), pp.74-79.

Off The Shelf - ‘Monday Morning Cooking Club - The Food, The Stories, The Sisterhood’

Kath October 23, 2019

Bought at: a bookshop in Woolhara, Sydney. I don’t remember the name of it, but I remember vividly that I had drove over to the Eastern Suburbs to meet a friend, at the old Jones the Grocer (I think it was about 2012). There was a bookshop nearby and I had it in my mind that I wanted to buy this book. I remember hearing about it on the old day time show called The Circle. And whether or not they were actually talking about this book, or I got my wires crossed and found this one anyway, it doesn’t matter now. The fact is that this book has been such a well used addition to my cookbook collection that, I am so glad I did find it.

Recipes Made: Custard Chiffon Cake p.35, Nice’s Date Slice p.55, Egg and Onion p.78, Talia’s Raspberry Tart p.93, Tomato Soup with Basil and Rocket Oil p.129, Hamantashen p.221, Couscous Roast Chicken p.233 and Challah from Heaven p.263.

If you make only one thing from this book, make sure it’s the Custard Chiffon Cake. This cake is the lightest and fluffiest cake you will ever make or eat. I absolutely adore this cake, and it is well worth the effort of finding an angel food cake tin (that isn’t non stick). I first tried this cake at a baking demonstration/workshop with the Monday Morning Cooking Club at BakeClub in 2014 (for more see this blog post). The workshop coincided with the release of the Monday Morning Cooking Club’s second book, The Feast Goes On (which I also highly recommend), however a few things from the first book were made that day too. We saw how the cake is made, and then got to try some and take a little home. For me, the Chiffon cake stood out from all the rest and has been my go to chiffon cake recipe ever since.

Nice’s Date Slice is also a recipe is has often been on high rotation in our house. A few years ago, when I was still at uni and worked in a cafe, I made it often as it is super quick and simple and was great to take with me as a little snack. It is also a massive crowd pleaser, I don’t recall anyone ever not liking this slice!

I was introduced to Egg and Onion at last years Cornersmith workshop with the Monday Morning Cooking Club ladies. Isn’t it funny, that you can have a recipe sitting right under your nose for years, but not take notice until someone else makes it for you? Well, that’s what happened for me with this recipe. I really needed to taste it to know how good it was, especially as this dip/great accompaniment to bread, was quite a foreign concept to me having only been introduced to Jewish cooking in the last few years. After this workshop I made it so many times, it is super simple, yet so satisfying to eat. It is particularly good with challah and bagels, and I have a smaller quantity of the recipe on this blog post, if you like me, never have that many people to serve (the original recipe serves 12!).

I think Talia’s Raspberry Tart was the first recipe I made from this book. I made it so many times in the first couple of years I had the book there is a labelled post it note for the recipe so it was very easy to find! It was also the first proper tart I ever made, and I always loved the story behind the recipe too. I think I was taken in by Talia’s desire to recreate the dishes she ate at restaurants at home, something that I often do too. The photo in the book of this tart is so inviting as well, with its perfect pastry and gorgeous raspberries. I have also made this tart with a combination of berries along with raspberries and it is just lovely.

Tomato Soup with Basil and Rocket Oil was made a couple of times by my Mum, who was looking for an alternative to our usual Tomato and Bacon Soup. This soup is made from fresh tomatoes rather than canned, and uses stale sourdough to thicken it. I absolutely loved it when Mum made it, and I think I will need to make it again very soon!

Earlier this year around the Jewish festival of Purim, I was doing research around Hamantashen recipes, and of course the Monday Morning Cooking Club was one of the first books I looked at. The image on the inside of the back cover of this book, is a striking picture of folded Hamantashen ready to go in the oven. This image always reminded me that this book had a recipe for Hamantashen, so I tried the dough recipe. I liked it except the recipe (in the edition I own at least), doesn’t say to the brush the cut dough with water or egg wash before folding the dough into the triangular Hamantashen. I found this meant the dough didn’t remain pinched together and didn’t keep that signature triangular shape during baking. I tried another recipe in the end (see blog post here), but I think if I used this recipe again in the future I would just brush the cut dough with an egg wash before shaping.

Hamantashen using dough recipe from Monday Morning Cooking Club

The Couscous Roast Chicken is a dish we have made countless times over the years. As a family we have 3 or 4 roast chicken recipes we frequent often and this one has been a high rotation (another is the Pistachio Roast Chicken from MMCC’s third book, but that’s a story for another Off the Shelf post!). We always use pearl or Israeli couscous for this dish, and always dates rather than dried apricots. The combination of the coucous, dates, herbs, spices and nuts make a delicious chicken stuffing and side all in one.

Simialar to the Egg and Onion I first tried the Challah from Heaven at the Cornersmith Workshop last year. I have certainly eaten challah before, but never a homemade one, and boy does it make a difference! The bread was soft and pillow like, and as I found when I made it at home, using the instructions given by the Monday Morning Cooking Club about how to do the six strand braid, isn’t too hard. I made many challah loaves in the months after that workshop, only stopping for a while as I was almost eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Favourite Things About The Book: Everything! I love the recipes, some of which have become very firm family favourites (the Custard Chiffon Cake, Date Slice and Couscous Roast Chicken most notably). I also absolutely love reading the stories behind the recipes and the people who contributed to them. This was the first cookbook that really got me thinking about food history and heirloom recipes, and how important it is to write them down and continue making them. This was also the first cookbook that really introduced me to the varied world of Jewish cooking, and I have to say I haven’t looked back since! I have found it immensely interesting to learn about another culture through food, and I think it has enriched my life and my families dinner table so much for the better.

I also love the story behind how the Monday Morning Cooking Club came about, and how at it’s core it was about recording recipes and celebrating food. If you already have a copy of this book, or can get a hold of one, read the introduction, it explains the whole concept so well. Then grab a big cup of tea, as you will probably find yourself sat reading all the stories behind each recipe and contributors to the book for a good long while.

Bookmarked Recipes (to make later!): Buba’s Eggplant p.71, Ginger Snaps p.72, Ginger Cake p.75, Bienenstich p.94, Israeli Couscous Soup, Almond Kifli p.150 and Chicken Persian Pilau p.203.

*NB: I own the original 2011 edition of this book which was published by Hardie Grant. Page numbers for recipes may differ in newer editions of this title.

Pistachio Hamantaschen + How to Make Pistachio Paste

Kath March 17, 2019

Purists look away now, these are not traditional hamantaschen! Hamantaschen (made during the Jewish festival of Purim) are only a recent discovery for me, so I don’t have any preconceived ideas or traditions to guide me as to how they ‘should’ be. My only experience with them is seeing pictures pop up on Instagram the week or so before Purim. And many of the ones I have seen are variants on the traditional versions. The recipes from Molly Yeh’s blog ‘My Name is Yeh’ are a great example of this. Last year I made her Marzipan Sprinkle Hamantaschen and they were delightfully fun.

This year I have been baking with pistachios a lot, and trying to perfect a homemade pistachio paste (since none seems to be available to buy at any store I have so far looked at!). When I noticed Purim was fast approaching I thought a pistachio version with my newly perfected pistachio paste would be great.

Great, if you aren’t set on a traditional hamantaschen that is! After speaking to a few people, I have since discovered that firstly, traditionally hamantaschen are filled with a poppyseed filling. Secondly, the shortbread like pastry sometimes used nowadays (like the one below), is definitely not traditional! A yeasted dough is the traditional way to make them.

Well, that had me seriously questioning my hamantaschen idea, and for a moment considered making this version and a traditional poppyseed one with yeasted dough. After more discussion and some research online and in a few of my cookbooks, I decided to forge ahead with my super untraditional hamantaschen recipe.

From my research on hamantaschen the shortbread like dough was a 20th century adaptation of the original, as it was easier to make and had a slightly longer shelf life. From my observations it looks like the shortbread like dough is quite common in America and in US based recipes. Which is where the below recipe originates. After some trial and error I finally settled on the dough recipe by Uri Scheft from his book ‘Breaking Breads’. Uri has bakeries in Israel and New York, and based on the types of recipes in this book, I definitely need to visit one of these bakeries one day!

So to those celebrating, Chag Purim Sameach! And for everyone else, I hope you give these a go! They are worth it just for the pistachio paste alone 😀.

If you want to know more about Purim or Hamantaschen here are a few good links!

NB. The leftover pistachio paste can be used to flavour ice creams or gelato, cakes, icings, milkshakes etc.

Also! The Pisacahio Paste requires blending by a fairly powerful food processor! If you don’t think yours is up to the task, or don’t feel like making it I would recommend making the marzipan from Molly’s Marzipan and Sprinkle Hamantaschen but with ground pistachios instead of almonds.

How to Make Pistachio Paste

Ingredients:

250g raw or blanched pistachios

100g white sugar

30ml water

60ml (4tbsp) pistachio oil

Method:

Pre heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius, and place the pistachios on a baking tray. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes. Once done set aside to cool a little.

Place the sugar and water into a small/medium saucepan and heat until it reaches 120 degrees on a sugar thermometer. Whilst the sugar syrup is heating, place the roasted pistachios in the bowl of a food processor and blitz until they form a fine crumb.

Once the sugar syrup has reached 120 degrees Celsius, gradually pour into the food processor whilst it is running. Gradually add the pistachio oil, and continue to process until a smooth paste forms. This should take between 5 and 10 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the food processor bowl at regular intervals if necessary. The finished product will be a smooth paste, similar to a nut butter. When the paste initially combines it will form a smooth ball, continue processing until a more paste like consistency is reached.

Once a smooth paste has formed, decant into plastic containers or glass jars and store in the fridge until needed. It should last about 1 month refrigerated. If the oils in the paste separate a little during storage, mix the paste briefly before using.

Makes about 390g.

Pistachio Hamantaschen

Ingredients:

230g unsalted butter (cold not room temp)

100g icing sugar (confectioners)

50g white sugar

2 eggs

400g plain flour

50g almond meal

salt

Ingredients for the Filling:

1/2 tbsp water

salt

60g mixed berry jam

250g pistachio paste

slivered pistachios, to decorate

Method:

Place the butter in between two sheets of baking paper and bash with the end of a rolling pin. This tenderises the butter without warming it up too much.

Place the butter and both sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat with the paddle attachment on a low speed until just combined. Increase the speed a little for a few moments longer to ensure everything is well mixed.

In a glass, add one of the eggs and lightly beat. Tip half of this into another glass and add the other egg to one of the egg halves and beat until combined. Only 1.5 eggs is necessary for the dough, however keep the other half for the egg wash later.

Add the beaten 1.5 eggs to the butter and mix on low until combined. Add the flour, almond meal and a pinch of salt then mix until almost combined.

Tip your dough onto a work surface and bring the dough together with your hands, until everything is combined. Wrap in plastic wrap or baking paper and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour (however you can do up to this step on one day and finish off the rest the next).

Once the dough has chilled, pre heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius and line three large baking trays with baking paper.

Flour your work surface and roll the dough out with a rolling pin until it is about 0.5cm thick. Continue to dust with more flour if the dough is sticky.

Cut out rounds of the dough using a 7.5-8cm (3 inch) round biscuit/cookie cutter and place on the prepared trays. Place these trays in the fridge if the dough has softened too much for a few minutes. Bring the scraps of dough together and flatten out again. If the dough is too soft re-wrap and place in the fridge for a few minutes, then continue to cut out more rounds of dough.

Remove the trays from the fridge. Get your beaten half egg from earlier and add the water and a pinch of salt. Whisk until combined. Brush this mixture over each round of dough.

Then spread a little of the jam in the centre of each round, then place a 1tsp sized ball of pistachio paste on top.

Shape the rounds of dough into the characteristic triangle shape by pinching one side into a corner, then folding the other side up to form two more corners. Sprinkle the middle of each with a few slivered pistachios.

Bake for about 20-23 minutes, rotating the racks a couple of times during baking to ensure an even bake. The hamantaschen will be lightly golden when they are done.

Cool on trays or on wire racks.

Makes about 40.

References: ‘À La Mère de Famille’ by Julien Merceron (Hardie Grant Books, 2013), p.160; ‘Breaking Breads’ by Uri Scheft (Artisan, 2016), pp.258-260.

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