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additional Recipe Areas at Caryn.com

The Jewish Holiday Baker

50 original recipes for the traditional baked goods associated with the major holidays--challah for Shabbat, hamantashen for Purim, macaroons and matzah for Passover, jelly doughnuts for Chanukah--as well as delicious and exotic alternatives from around the world: Yemenite kubbanah, Turkish boyos, German schnecken, Russian babka, Hungarian strudel, Parisian pletzel, Mexican banana cake, Syrian ka'ak.

see more Jewish Holiday Cookbooks

Hamentaschen Fillings: Recipes

It's perfectly fine to go buy fruit preserves, jam or chocolate spread if you don't want to make your own hamentashen fillings, but if you love to cook and want to go the extra mile, here are some ideas to get you started! These recipes are designed to go with our basic hamentashen recipe which uses about 4 c. flour and makes about 3 dozen hamentashen, so adjust amount accordingly. Poppy Seed Hamantashen recipe is included separately and for filling ideas for chocolate hamentaschen please refer to the chocolate hamentashen recipe page.

Apricot Hamentashen Filling
(No-Sugar Added Apricot Sauce)

I promise this will be the most incrdible apricot sauce you will ever taste! Besides making a great filling for hamentashen, this Apricot Sauce is also Caryn's absolute FAVORITE topping for matza (matzoh) brei! Make this a day ahead of time so that when you are ready to make the hamentashen, all you need to do is scoop out this sauce into the dough. It's easy to make, but requires you to be around for a couple of hours to check in periodically.

Ingredients

2 lb. dried CALIFORNIA apricots (this is important--turkish apricots are MUCH sweeter!)
4 tsp. lemon juice (optional)
sugar (optional)
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Place apricots in a large saucepan. Add water until apricots are just barely covered by the water (err on the side of less, not more, you can always add more later.) Bring pot to a boil. Put on a low heat and simmer on very low heat. Put cover on pot just askew a little, so pot is almost covered, not quite. Every 20-30 minutes or so, stir up the pot, then recover loosely. Keep doing this until the apricots have fallen apart, all the water is absorbed and you've got kind of a thick apricot sauce. Especially for using with hamentashen, thicker is better, but it should still be spreadable and not burnt. Add lemon juice or sugar to taste. In all the years I've made this, I've always started with good, fresh, dried Calfornia apricots and I've never need to add anything.

Prune Hamentaschen Filling

Ingredients

2 lb. dried pitted prunes (or 24 oz. box)
4 tsp. lemon juice and grated rind of one lemon
chopped walnuts or almonds (optional)
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Soak prunes overnight. Cook until soft, then drain. Chop until smooth (or run through food processor). Add lemon juice, rind and nuts to taste.

Vanilla Maple-Walnut Hamantashen Filling

Ingredients

2 c. chopped walnuts
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
orange water to taste
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Mix everything in a saucepan over medium heat until blended.

Cherry-Vanilla-Walnut Hamentashen Filling

Ingredients

2 cans cherries
1 c. chopped walnuts
1 tsp. vanilla extract
dash of cinnmon or nutmeg (optional)
orange water to taste
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Mix everything in a saucepan over medium heat until blended.