Hamantaschen

Hamantaschen

A Treat for Purim

This post is a bit late for Purim but these cookies are worth reporting about.  The recipe comes from Smitten Kitchen and has been altered a bit to suit ingredients available in the Czech Republic in general and our pantry specifically.  

Ingredients: 

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
6 tablespoons tvaroh*
3 tablespoons icing sugar 
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups plus 4 teaspoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling (I used poppy seed filling mix, though one could also use jam).  

*The recipe calls for cream cheese.  Though it is not impossible to find here, it is rather expensive and I figured I would try a more Czech alternative.  Tvaroh is similar to quark, a fresh cheese popular in Central and Eastern Europe.  It can be creamy or crumbly and is often referred to as "curd."  I chose to use a creamy, high-fat tvaroh because it is most similar to cream cheese.

Cream together butter and tvaroh until smooth.  Then add sugar and continue to mix for one minute.  Add egg, vanilla, and salt.  Mix until combined.  Gradually add flour until a smooth but slightly sticky dough comes together.  The dough has a distinct pastry feel to it--not as light as bread dough but not as heavy as cookie dough.  You may need to add up to one tablespoon of extra flour if the dough is too sticky.  

Make a disc, as you would for sugar cookies, and wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate at least one hour while you prepare the fillings.

I love this poppy seed filling!   There's even a recipe on the back, just like grandma used to make.  This is a mixture of ground poppy seeds, sugar, and starch that makes it thicken up into paste when water is added. 

Poppy paste! Yeah, I bet all of you trying to make hamantashcen in America are jealous of how easily one can get poppy paste here.  And I'm jealous of how easily one can get Cheetos there.  So we're even.

After the dough has been refrigerated, roll it out on a floured surface to about a quarter of an inch thick. This is when most people use fancy circular cookie cutters.  The ring of a ball jar works just as well.  And don't lie, if you are reading this, you probably own more ball jars than cups and definitely more ball jars than circular cookie cutters.  They also come in convenient sizes.  Use a regular ring for smaller hamantaschen and a wide-mouth ring for larger, more traditional cookies.  

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 F (170 C).

Place a small spoonful of filling in the middle of the circle.

 Pinch closed three corners to make the shape of a tri-corner hat.  This first batch, I only pinched it a little bit and avoided covering the filling.  You will see that when they came out, they had mostly unfolded themselves.  The next batch, I pinched them so hard that I almost covered the filling and they stayed pretty triangular. 

Place cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet with a fair amount of space between them because they do rise.  

Bake for about 20 minutes, until the dough is golden brown.  

As you can see, these turned out a bit too puffy and not very triangular.  Delicious, nonetheless.  Store in an airtight container.  

Granola

Granola

A Make-It-Up-As-You-Go Recipe

Last month, a discussion was had in our flat.  It went something like this: 

Amy: You know what is a delicious and healthy breakfast food that can be eaten with yogurt to increase your calcium intake and ensure you are getting enough good bacteria?

Colleen: Hmm, cereal?  Cereal is so expensive here and sugary!

Amy: No, granola! 

Colleen: Boy howdy are you ever right!  We should make some!

Amy: Make granola?  How does one make granola?

Colleen: Well, it's easy!  You just mix up whatever seeds, nuts, and dried fruit you like with oats, honey, and oil; then you bake it.  

I may be paraphrasing.  There may have also been a discussion which followed like this:

Colleen: What do you like in your granola?

Amy: I don't know, the normal stuff.

Colleen: Dried fruit?

Amy: No.  The other stuff.

Colleen: Seeds and nuts?

Amy: Yeah, I guess.  And the crunchy stuff.

Colleen:  What kind of seeds and nuts?

Amy: I don't know, the normal ones.

Here's what we settled upon:

Gather Your Ingredients.
Most Stuff Should Be in Jars. If You Are Making Granola, You're The Kind of Person Who Stores Everything In Jars.

These measurements are difficult to quantify, but here's a try:
2-3 cups of oats (not quick-cooking)
1/4 cup of nuts
1/4 cup of large seeds
2 teaspoons of small seeds
2 tablespoons of wheat germ
3 tablespoons of honey
1/3 cup of oil
pinch of salt
pinches of sweet spices

For the nuts, we use almond and cashews because that's what we like.  I prefer the nuts chopped up.

Toss your nuts in the bowl, add in your oats.  As you can tell, I'm not one for measuring.  

Add in some wheat germ.  This is not a requirement as it does nothing for flavor; however, it adds lots of healthy stuff!  

Next, add some seeds.  We use lots of pumpkin and sunflower seeds (shucked, obviously) and a few teaspoons of poppy and sesame seeds.  

Add in honey, about three tablespoons.  It's better to under-sweeten than over-sweeten, though.  You can always put honey on top when you are eating it.  If you do not eat honey, for whatever reason, you can also use maple syrup-- though the flavor definitely comes through in the granola and you need much less than honey.  Then, add oil.  It takes more oil than you think, about a third of a cup! 

That's almost everything!  Add in a pinch of salt.  Then, add in pinches of your favorite sweet spices. I use cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and allspice.

Mix it up!

Spread your granola on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Be sure not to pile it too high; you may have to bake it in two batches.  I am always sure to leave some clumps, though, ensuring that there's plenty of "crunchy stuff."

Bake at 350F (170C) for about 10-15 minutes, mixing with a spatula halfway through.  The granola is done when the oats are a little brown and the seeds or nuts looked cooked.

Store in an airtight container and it lasts for a few weeks.  If you do like dried fruit in your granola, you can add it before or after baking.  If you have raisin-picker-outers in your house, it's good to store the dried fruit next to the granola and mix it in when you want it.