When thinking about Purim festivities, I cannot consider reproducing a Hamantashen treat that will come close to the ones that my dear friend, Phil Goldman makes for the Purim celebration every year at Congregation Tifereth Israel (this year on Thursday, March 24th at 7 pm).
He spends many hours over many days, making his fillings, rolling the dough, shaping the cookies into the “Haman Hat” shapes and baking the cookies to their perfect texture. So as not to embarrass myself trying to replicate his traditional Purim treats, I tried a modern twist on this pastry using a gluten-free blend of almond and coconut flour along with a cherry filling containing a few drops of rose water, that I call, “Persian Cherry filling”, as a nod to the story of Purim and the Jews of the Persian empire. For the ultimate “Carnivale”, serve with a bowl of Sangria made with your favorite Kosker table wine.
Ingredients:
2 cups of almond flour
1/2 cup of coconut oil
1/4 cup of honey
6 tbsp of coconut flour
1/4 tsp of fine sea salt
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1/2 cup of cherry preserve with rose water ( see recipe below)
Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Combine all the ingredients together, except for the coconut flour and fruit preserve, using a food processor or immersion blender.
- Transfer the dough to a bowl and start adding the coconut flour while kneading the dough until you get a play-dough consistency.
- Put the dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper and flatten the dough with a rolling-pin.
- Make circles using a cookie cutter or the top of a glass
- Once you have laid out all the disks on the cookie sheet, place a half teaspoon of filling in the middle of each disk. Then come back around and shape them into the hat and pinch the corners.
- Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until slightly golden and allow to cool for at least 20 minutes prior to serving. They will still be soft when they come out of the oven but resist over baking them. Once cooled, the texture will be slightly chewy and very delicious.
- Persian Cherry Filling
4 cups of red tart cherries, pitted and halved
1 cup of sugar
pinch of salt
1/4 cup of corn starch
2 to 3 drops of rose water (you can purchase in specialty store like Kaluystan’s in NYC or North African/Sephardic grocery store like International Foods in Roslyn, Long Island. Be judicious with this rose water or your desserts will taste like perfume. If you are in a pinch, add the rose water to a can of high quality cherry pie mix. - Place pitted and halved cherries into a saucepan over medium heat, and cover the pan. Heat cherries until they release their juice and come to a simmer; about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir often. In a bowl, whisk the sugar with cornstarch until smooth; pour the mixture into the hot cherries and juice, and thoroughly combine. Return to low heat and add the few drops of rose water. Cook until the filling has thickened, about 2 minutes; remove from heat, let cool, and use as filling for Hamantashen.
