I wanted to start this post out lavishly quoting to you the lyrics of a Purim song of my youth. It is sung to the melody of “Roll out the Barrel,” but the words have been changed and this rousing rendition is entitled “Roll out the Megillah” (the scrolls on which the story of Purim are written). But you know what? I couldn’t find them! Anywhere! I  mean, isn’t that what the internet is expressly for?

I thought that everyone knew this song; that it was like, “I Had a Little Dreidel” or “Jingle Bells,” for my non-Jewish readers. But none of my Jewish friends have even heard of it. So apparently, unless you went to Temple Sholom, in the suburbs of San Francisco, in the eighties, this song is news to you. I have forgotten all of the lyrics in the last twenty-five years. But let me assure you, it was epic.

The song told to you to “hoot and holler.”  It sang of “Haman’s plight.” There might have been mention of the fourteenth day of Adar (that’s the date on the Jewish, lunar calendar). Anyways, I loved the song. I loved Purim. I loved dressing up as Queen Esther. And I loved apricot hamantashen.

Many of you probably have seen a hamantashen or two at a Jewish bakery, or delicatessen. They’re a cookie made to resemble the three-pointed hat that the evil Haman wore on his head. The hamantashen you may have seen before are giant, rustic cookies, with the filling practically pinched closed, so you can’t even see it. As you can see, my hamantashen aren’t like that at all. They’re diminutive, delicate sweets– just like my mom makes.

These are the hamantashen I grew up with. These are the hamantashen meant to be enjoyed after a rousing rendition of “Roll out the Megillah.” Yes, these cookies are holiday-specific, but my mom made them year-round. That’s how much we loved them at my house.

So, I know that Purim was last Sunday. But here is my mom’s recipe for hamantashen dough. For the filling, we always used Solo Apricot Filling, but prune, or poppyseed is also traditional. I couldn’t find any Solo filling, much like I couldn’t find any amazing lyrics to share with you, so I used apricot jam, which worked well.

You’ll notice, this isn’t a golden-brown cookie. While you still want it baked, you don’t want it to color a lot. The cookies get too hard if left to bake too long. Roll out the Megillah foks…

Hamantashen

Makes about 24-30 cookies

8 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 tablespoons orange juice
1 1/2 tablespoons water
2 1/2-3 cups flour, sifted

apricot filling
1 egg, mixed with water, for an egg wash

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla, and salt. Blend to combine. Add the liquid, and continue to combine. Mixture may look like it is curdling, but will come together when flour is added. Add flour, in half cup increments, until a dough stiffer than a pie dough is made.

Flatten the dough into a half-inch disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 2-3 hours, or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Divide the dough into thirds. Roll out one third of the dough, to about 1/8 of an inch thickness. With a round cookie or biscuit cutter, cut circles out, about 3 inches in diameter. Spoon approximately 1 teaspoon of filling into the middle of the circle. With your finger, apply the egg wash to the perimeter of the circle. Tightly pinch the circle into a triangle. Lay on a parchment paper, or Silpat lined cookie sheet. The cookies will not spread much during baking. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Scraps can be rolled out again.

Bake for 10-15 minutes. Let cookies to room temperature, the filling will be bubbly and hot.