Gourmet Buttermilk Cookies — Ruth’s Hamantaschen: The Ears of Haman, the Shape of Survival

Purim. The holiday of costumes and noisemakers and hamantaschen — the triangular cookies that represent Haman's ears, or his hat, depending on which rabbinic commentary you follow, and I follow the ears interpretation because it is more grotesque and because Purim is a holiday that embraces the grotesque. We celebrate the near-destruction of the Jewish people with cookies shaped like body parts. This is Jewish humor at its most essential: we survived, so we eat the enemy's ears. With poppy seed filling.

I made hamantaschen for three days. This is excessive. I know it is excessive. But hamantaschen are the most labor-intensive of the Ashkenazi cookies — the dough must be rolled thin, the circles cut, the filling placed precisely in the center, the three corners folded up and pinched just right so they hold their shape in the oven. Each cookie is a small engineering project. I made four flavors: poppy seed (traditional), apricot (Sylvia's favorite), chocolate (David's favorite), and prune (which no one's favorite but which I make anyway because tradition demands it and I am a woman who answers tradition's demands).

Ethan and I made hamantaschen together. He is nearly three and his pinching technique is, to be charitable, experimental. His hamantaschen looked like abstract art — triangles that were more like circles, corners that refused to stay folded, chocolate filling escaping from every seam. He was proud of each one. I was proud of him. The product does not matter. The process matters. The small hands learning to fold dough — that is Purim. That is the whole holiday. We were nearly destroyed, and here we are, making cookies with our grandchildren. The ears, the hat, whatever shape they are — they are the shape of survival.

I sent hamantaschen to Rebecca at Columbia, to Miriam in Tel Aviv (via a friend who was traveling — airmail hamantaschen being impractical but not impossible), and to Helen Marcowitz at school. Helen, who is not Jewish, has been eating my hamantaschen for twenty years and once said, "I don't understand the holiday but I understand the cookie," which is the most accurate statement about Purim I have ever heard from a gentile.

I wrote about hamantaschen on the blog — about the defiance of joy, about how making cookies to celebrate not being destroyed is the most Jewish thing imaginable, because we are a people who answer destruction with dinner, who respond to catastrophe with cake, who look at history's worst and say: we are still here. We are still baking. The ears are delicious. Pass the poppy seed.

The recipe I’m sharing is the one I’ve been making for forty years — the same dough I mixed for Rebecca and Miriam and Helen, the same fillings that have traveled across oceans and school hallways and decades of Purims that kept arriving whether we were ready or not. I use buttermilk in the dough because my mother did, and because it makes them tender in a way that feels less like a cookie and more like a kindness. Here is how you make them.

Ruth’s Hamantaschen — Buttermilk Dough with Four Fillings

Prep Time: 1 hour 30 min | Cook Time: 14 min per batch | Total Time: 2 hours 30 min (plus 1 hour chill) | Servings: 48 cookies

Ingredients

For the Dough

• 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest

Poppy Seed Filling (Mohn)

• 3/4 cup poppy seeds, ground
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Apricot Filling

• 1 cup dried apricots
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Chocolate Filling

• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Prune Filling (Lekvar)

• 1 cup pitted prunes
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Instructions

1. Make the dough. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Mix in vanilla and lemon zest. Reduce speed to low and alternate adding the flour mixture and buttermilk in three additions, beginning and ending with flour, mixing just until the dough comes together. Divide into two discs, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight.
2. Prepare the poppy seed filling. Combine ground poppy seeds, milk, honey, and sugar in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until thickened to a paste that holds its shape, about 8–10 minutes. Stir in vanilla, transfer to a bowl, and cool completely.
3. Prepare the apricot filling. Simmer apricots, water, and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat until apricots are very soft and liquid is mostly absorbed, about 15 minutes. Stir in lemon juice. Blend or mash to a smooth jam-thick paste. Cool completely.
4. Prepare the chocolate filling. Combine chocolate chips, cream, and butter in a small heatproof bowl. Microwave in 20-second bursts, stirring between each, until fully melted and smooth. Let cool until thick enough to hold its shape, about 30 minutes at room temperature or 10 minutes in the refrigerator.
5. Prepare the prune filling. Simmer prunes, water, sugar, and cinnamon in a small saucepan over medium heat until prunes are completely soft and liquid is absorbed, about 12 minutes. Add lemon juice and blend or mash to a thick paste. Cool completely.
6. Roll and cut. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll one dough disc to 1/8-inch thickness. Use a 3-inch round cutter to cut circles. Gather scraps, re-roll, and cut again.
7. Fill and fold. Place 1 heaping teaspoon of filling in the center of each circle — no more, or the corners will not hold. To form the triangle: fold the left side up and to the right, fold the right side up and to the left, then fold the bottom up. The three corners should overlap slightly. Pinch each corner firmly between your fingers, pressing the layers together. The center filling should remain visible. Place on prepared baking sheets 1 inch apart.
8. Bake. Bake 12–14 minutes, until the edges are just golden and the dough is set but still pale on top. Watch closely — these color quickly. Let cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Corners that open slightly during baking are perfectly honest; pinch them back while still warm if you prefer tidiness.
9. Store. Layer cooled hamantaschen between sheets of parchment in an airtight container. They keep at room temperature for 5 days, or freeze well for up to 2 months.

Nutrition (per serving, 1 cookie with filling, average across fillings)

Calories: 98 | Protein: 2g | Fat: 4g | Carbs: 14g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 42mg