I've read so many articles over the past few weeks promising to share with me the easiest hamentashen recipe ever - and let's face it, those headlines are alluring because hamentashen are a serious pain in the you-know-what to make and bake.
But I'm going to do it anyway. I'm going to say it. These are the EASIEST Hamentashen Ever.
For real.
More often than not, recipes start out with the author claiming to be offering the simplest and most time-efficient way to make and bake and cook. And then, funnily enough, that same author will then offer 17 steps, no pictures, and an optional but not really optional trip to the local ethnic market.
My hamentashen though, do not have 127 steps because hamentashen are my #1 holiday-themed-baked-good-nemesis.
Rolling out the dough without it sticking to the counter? Pretty much never happens.
Lifting the dough circles off the counter and not losing their circular shape? Not mine.
Sticky jelly everywhere, from the kitchen counter to the front door? Every single time.
And the worst - I pinch and I crimp and seal the hamentashen triangles with water and a paint brush, I lovingly put them into the oven and wait patiently while they bake. And then, something happens - and the tray will always emerge full of wide-open hamentashen that are oozing scorching hot jelly all over the oven door.
No. Just no.
So here's the secret.
Ready?
1. Drive to the closest Shoprite.
2. Buy hamentashen.
3. Drive home.
See how easy?
Once the hamentashen are safely inside your house and you've thrown away the evidence, um, I mean packaging, it's time to personalize them.
There are so many ways, where to start?
1. Melt some chocolate in the microwave, let it cool briefly and, using a spoon, gently drizzle melted chocolate over each hamentash. Let the hamentashen dry on a sheet of wax paper.
2. Repeat step #1, and moving quickly before the chocolate hardens, toss a handful of sprinkles over the hamentashen. Bonus points for rainbow sprinkles, but chocolate on chocolate is always nice too. Triple points for edible glitter.
3. Grab a pack of lollipop sticks and dip the top third of each stick into melted chocolate. Use the chocolate to glue the lollipop stick to the back of the hamentash and lay the hamentash face down on a piece of wax paper until the lollipop stick and the hamentashen have dried together.
I'm not going to lie, I used this trick to make hamentashen lollipops for mishloach manot for Josh's work family. And I also might have done the same to some packaged pareve chocolate chip cookies to round things out and to make it okay that the only thing I put into the mini mishloach manots was a real lollipop. I have no idea if any of them follow along here, but seriously, I'm not even a little bit embarrassed. There are so many of them and only one of me and a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do to get through Purim.
Also, packaging? It's everything. Piling dressed-up hamentashen on a paper plate and covering it with plastic wrap is certainly one way to go, but taking some time to play around with ribbon and lollipop bags can be sort of relaxing. Heck, who I am I kidding? Everything is relaxing when the kitchen isn't covered in jelly and I can pretend to be the lady from the old Rice Krispie Treats commercial, reading a book in the kitchen and throwing some flour on my face before the kids come home.
It works, by the way, the whole throwing flour on yourself thing. Don't trust me? Try it yourself. Just don't ruin your perfectly tricked out hamentashen by getting flour all over them by accident. Then just sit back, and read a good book until your family comes home and oohs and ahhs over your very special hamentashen that took all the live long day to make.
:)
Jen