fun hamantaschen – Busy in Brooklyn

My friend recently commented to me that she is really enjoying all of the unique hamantaschen she sees popping up on her newsfeed. “Is it like a competition between you guys?,” she wanted to know. Well, no. OK, maybe a little.

It’s not a competition as much as it is a desire to come up with the most brilliant, out of the box, knock-your-socks-off kind of hamantasch that outshines all the rest. So it’s not really about the others. It’s just about yours being THAT GOOD. And it’s not just about hamantaschen either. It’s about always being at the top of your game because that’s what food bloggers do. We try to stay ahead of the trends, create cool hybrid dishes and wow our readers so they keep coming back for more.

So how did I do? Is this corndog hamantasch hybrid mindblowing enough to explode on your newsfeed?! Just wait until you taste them. They’re nice and crispy, with an amazing texture from the coarse cornmeal that’s unlike any hamantasch you’ve ever had.

People always ask me how I come up with this stuff and the answer is, I have no idea. Sometimes it hits me in the dead of night, when insomnia rears it’s ugly head. Sometimes, I’m lacking inspiration so I browse the web for ideas on popular food trends. And sometimes it’s because I’m a mom, and when I can get my kids to eat something, I go all out viral with the idea.

These particular hamantaschen did not take a lot of convincing. My kids are huge fans of Abeles & Heymann’s hot dogs and they are equally obsessed with my nondairy cornbread. I’ve only made homemade corndogs once, as a midnight snack when they were fast asleep (I may or may not have been pregnant at the time) but I often make mini corndog muffins filled with hot dog chunks. Corndog hamantaschen are definitely new in this house, but as I tested different batches of dough, they seemed to disappear as each tray came out of the oven.

What I love about this recipe is that you can easily use it for sweet applications as you can with savory hot dogs. I tested a batch with strawberry rhubarb jam and they were incredible. I’m definitely going to try it with blueberry jam too. and of course, after Purim, you can just make them into thin round cookies and forget the whole triangle thing.

But for now, the triangle thing is super fun and I already have a frozen batch to serve up for the Purim seudah! I might make a batch of baklava hamantaschen for dessert. Or, another special recipe that I’ll be sharing up on the blog soon!

What are some of your favorite creative hamantaschen to make on Purim? Or are you more of a traditionalist? I don’t think I have ever made traditional hamantaschen in my life, can you imagine? If I want apricot or raspberry hamantaschen, I just buy them at the bakery. That’s what they’re there for, right?!

In the meantime, I’ll be savoring the rest of this savory batch, if my kids don’t get to it first. Happy Purim Prep!

Corndog Hamantaschen

1 cup cornmeal
1 1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1/3 cup canola oil
2 tbsp unsweetened almond milk
4 Abeles & Heymann beef hot dogs
mustard, for dipping, optional

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, whisk the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, oil and almond milk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir with a fork until the dough is the texture of wet sand. Using your hands, knead the dough together until soft. Flour your work surface and rolling pin and roll out the dough until about 1/4″ thick. Cut circles out of a dough using a round cookie cutter (see note). Cut the hot dogs into 1/4″ thick slices and put a slice in the center of each circle of dough. Fold corners in to create a triangle shape and pinch to close. Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet for 10-12 minutes, until crispy and just starting to lightly brown underneath.

NOTE: I used a 2.5″ cookie cutter, but this fits the hot dogs just/just and makes small hamantaschen. For more traditional size hamantaschen that have more room for folding, use a 3″ cutter.

OPTIONAL TOPPINGS: serve alongside sauerkraut, pickle relish and other hot dog toppings of your choice.

SERVING: these are best served fresh, however, they may be frozen after baking and rewarmed in a 350 degree oven until the hot dogs are warm and the cookie crisps up, about 5 minutes.

YIELD: 30-40 hamantaschen, depending on size.

This post was sponsored by Abeles & Heymann

Post a Comment

“Good, better, best; never let it rest till your good is better and your better is best.”

Have you ever heard that quote before? Well I don’t know who came up with it, but it should be my motto. Ever since I can remember, I’ve been trying to outdo myself. It’s like I’m in competition with me. And the funny thing is, I’m not even a competitive person. I couldn’t care less what the next person is doing. I just want to outdo ME.

Nothing brings this out more than Purim. I spend an entire year thinking about what kind of crazy, amazing. blow-your-mind kind of idea I can come up that will outdo what I’ve done the year before. Since last year’s sushi hamantaschen were such a huge hit, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. It had to be a twist on a classic, a creative reversal of the expected, and it had to resemble hamantaschen. Not an easy feat, I tell you!

I surfed pinterest for inspiration, flipped through cookbooks for ideas and wracked my brain until I hit the finger-‘lickin jackpot. BAKLAVA HAMANTASCHEN – oh. em. gee.

To really capture the spirit of the story of Purim (set in Persia in the year 3392), I turned to a classic Persian recipe: baklava. Traditional Persian baklava uses a combination of chopped almonds and pistachios spiced with cardamom and a rose water syrup. Since I really wanted to turn things upside down (VeNahafoch Hu, right?), I switched up the rose water for apricot jam syrup (a’ la classic hamantaschen) and cut my baklava into true hamantasch shapes. The result is a decadent sweet and adorable treat that will be the talk of your Purim seudah!

Now if you’re the type who doesn’t mess with tradition, you may go ahead and prepare your baklava a’ la classique, rose-water syrup and all. Just make sure to cut them into hamantasch shapes, to really capture the Purim spirit.

Now tell me, how on earth will I outdo myself next year?!

Baklava Hamantaschen

1 pkg filo dough, thawed
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
2 cups chopped walnuts
1 cup loosely packed light brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup apricot jam
1/2 cup water

Method:

Grease an 8″x 8″ baking dish with melted butter and set aside. Add the chopped nuts, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt to a food processor or blender. Pulse the mixture until the nuts are chopped more finely (but not ground) and the mixture is combined.

Remove filo from packaging and cut sheets so that you have 18 squares the size of the baking dish (a little smaller than 8″ x 8″ so it fits well). Separate the filo into 3 parts with 6 square layers in each. Cover the layers with a damp cloth as they tend to dry out quickly. Starting with the first set of 6 layers, brush melted butter in between each layer, placing them in the baking dish on top of each other.

Spread half of the nut filling over the first stack of filo dough in the baking dish. Repeat with the second stack of filo dough, brushing butter in between each layer, stacking it in the baking dish, and topping it with the 2nd half of the nut filling.

Take the third stack of filo dough and brush butter in between each layer, but DO NOT layer it in the baking dish. Instead, set the buttered stack on your work surface. Using a triangular-shaped cookie cutter, gently press your knife down on the filo dough to form triangular-shaped guides that will show you where to cut the filo later. MAKE SURE NOT TO CUT THROUGH THE LAYERS OF FILO DOUGH. This is only meant as a guide to show you where to cut the baklava later, when all the layers are stacked. Once you have drawn your guide, take a smaller triangular cookie cutter and cut through the layers of filo to remove their centers, resembling hamantaschen.

Take your final stack of filo dough, with the triangular guides and hollowed out centers, and place it in the baking dish over the previously set layers. Now you can take your knife and following the guide, cut the triangular shapes all the way through the layers. Brush the top layer of filo with butter and bake the baklava at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, until golden.

While the baklava is baking, add apricot jam and water to a pot and heat the jam until it begins to melt into a syrup. Use a whisk or spoon to break up the jam, and continue to cook until a thin syrup forms. Remove from the heat and pour into a small jug or pitcher.

Remove the baklava from the oven and pour apricot syrup over it, brushing with a pastry brush, if needed.

NOTE: For a healthier version, you may spray each layer of filo dough with butter flavored PAM instead of using real butter.

VARIATION: You may use other kinds of nuts such as pistachios or almonds, or use a combination.

TIP: If you do not have triangular shaped cookie cutters, you can prepare your own template using heavy cardstock to serve as your guide.

1 year ago: sushi hamantaschen (onigiri)
2 years ago: savory puff pastry hamantaschen

Tag: fun hamantaschen

Corndog Hamantaschen

Baklava Hamantaschen