As much as I love a good seder at Passover or rowdy game of spin the dreidel at Hanukkah, these delightful Jewish holidays just done stand up to the awesomeness that is Purim. Last year, I made some fairly traditional hamantaschen and shared the story of Purim with Jew all. (J’all for short for you southerners.)
As a refresher, way back in ancient Persia, our hero Esther saves the Jewish people from the King’s evil adviser Haman’s plans of exterminating all the Jews. Story of our lives. To celebrate, we dress up in costumes in honor of Esther dressing up to hide her Jewish identity and eat and drink. A lot. Is it a wonder this holiday is my favorite? Gluttony and booze? I’m there! The best part is we Jews over the age of 21 (I barely made it!) are literally commanded to get so drunk that we can’t tell the difference between Mordechai (the tag-team hero along with Esther in the Purim story) and Haman. Recovering alcoholics and children are exempt from the tradition. I guess.
We also eat tasty triangular cookies called hamantaschen filled with awesomeness that resemble the three-cornered hat Haman pranced around in. Sweet recipes like raspberry jam and prune filling are popular, but I went crazy this year with a savory caramelized onion hamantaschen. Blame it on the booze. Rumor has it that Esther was a vegetarian to secretly keep her kosher ways, so this fits in nicely! Here is all you need for savory hamanaschen.
First up, caramelize your onions. Slice them into thin slices and add the onions and 1 teaspoon salt to a large saucepan with 1 tbsp oil. Definitely add the salt because it helps pulls out moisture and makes the onions extra sweet! Cook slow and low for 10 minutes until the onions start to wilt.
While your onions are a-cooking (make sure to stir occasionally) you can make your pizza dough. Combine 1 cup all-purpose flour with yeast, sugar and salt. Then add the water and knead for one minute. Gradually add the 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour and thyme and knead until you have a smooth ball (hehe) or about 3-4 minutes. Add more flour if needed.
Put dough aside. By now, your onions should be pretty soft. Add the honey and a little more olive oil if the onions are sticking. Sweat your onions for 5 more minutes and then add the tomatoes, thyme, red chili pepper flakes and more salt.
Cook for an additional 5 minutes until the tomatoes start to cook and the onions are cooked down. You also want to make sure to cook away any moisture from the tomatoes so your hamantaschen are not soggy.
While your mixture is cooling a bit, roll out the dough very thin- about an 1/8 of an inch. Cut the dough into rounds using a 2 or 3 inch circle cutter (the top of a glass will due). Then put a teaspoon and a half of the filling in the middle of each circle.
Then fold up the sides to form a triangle, making sure to securely pinch the ends closed.
Put the hamantaschen on a cooking sheet lined with parchment paper and sprinkled with cornmeal and bake at 425 for 5 minutes.
Then sprinkle on goat cheese and bake for another 5-7 minutes until your pizzas are golden brown and the cheese is bubbly.
Serve with plenty of booze and a side of aspirin.
Savory Caramelized Onion Hamantaschen
Ingredients
- For filling:
- 1 medium red onion cut into thin slices
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt plus more to taste
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 cup grape tomatoes cut into eighths
- 1 tablespoon thyme minced
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red chili pepper flakes
- 3 ounces goat cheese
- For dough:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 envelope pizza yeast
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup warm water about 120 degrees
- 1 tablespoon thyme minced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Slice onions into thin slices and add the them and 1 teaspoon salt to a large saucepan with 1 tbsp oil.
- Cook slow and low for 10 minutes until the onions start to wilt, stirring occasionally.
- Now you can make your pizza dough.
- Combine 1 cup all-purpose flour with yeast, sugar and salt.
- Then add the water and knead for one minute.
- Gradually add the 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour and thyme and knead until you have a smooth ball (hehe) or about 3-4 minutes. Add more flour if needed.
- Put dough aside. By now, your onions should be pretty soft. Add the honey and a little more olive oil if the onions are sticking. Sweat your onions for 5 more minutes and then add the tomatoes, thyme, red chili pepper flakes and more salt to taste.
- Cook for an additional 5 minutes until the tomatoes start to cook and the onions are cooked down. You also want to make sure to cook away any moisture from the tomatoes so your hamantaschen are not soggy.
- While your mixture is cooling a bit, roll out the dough very thin- about an 1/8 of an inch. Cut the dough into rounds using a 2 or 3 inch circle cutter (the top of a glass will due). Then put a teaspoon and a half of the filling in the middle of each circle.
- Fold up the sides to form a triangle, making sure to securely pinch the ends closed.
- Put the hamantaschen on a cooking sheet lined with parchment paper and sprinkled with cornmeal and bake at 425 for 5 minutes.
- Then sprinkle on goat cheese and bake for another 5-7 minutes until your pizzas are golden brown and the cheese is bubbly.
51 Comments
I think if Esther had baked these beauties she could have saved herself a lot of trouble. Even Hamen would have done anything she asked. Oh how naughty!
You are so creative my sweet. Happy Purim.
Your ever lovin’ Bubbe
Haha that’s pretty sassy Bubbe!
I’ve never had savory hamentaschen! Going to give these a try, Amy!
Let me know what you think! My friend Mindy had the idea to put prune preserves with caramelized onions and the goat cheese which sounds awesome!
I mean fig not prune!
Did you just put all of my favorite things together in a savory cookie? Yes, you did. I think Purim is my new favorite holiday.
Ha thanks! It may be mine too!
What an original idea, now i’m interested in trying other combinations, great pics too!
Thanks, Michael! Yes the possibilities are endless!
I love your recipes and pictures! Every time I see one of them I get soooo hungry. I also love learning about all of the traditional Jewish foods and the stories behind them. They seriously make me consider converting to Judaism 🙂 I would love to get a copy when you publish your first cookbook and wish you well!
Thanks, Stephani!! I will definitely let you know when my cookbook is out 🙂
OH.
MY.
GOSH.
These look absolutely amazing!!
Thanks, Kelly!!
A+ for creativity!!! My mouth is watering! Ditto on Stephani’s note about the cook book. I love goat cheese..just found a new mile goat cheese called pimentino. My local Byerly’s grocery store sell is for ….$17.99/LB……OUCH! I still tried it-1/4 LB- and OMG! I’ll bet it would be great on these cute little hats!
Pimentino® is produced with same-day Murciana goat’s milk collected from local farmers. Aged for 90 days, it is creamy and mild with a clean finish that hints of grass and herbs. The rind is rubbed with sweet paprika, which is indigenous to Murcia. Although it is done so for beauty and does not impart any flavor, it is one of the few cheeses which has real paprika on the rind. It is a great value and has excellent versatility. Truly a gem.
Yum that sounds delish! I <3 cheese!!
What a brilliant idea! Can’t wait to make them.
Thanks, Wendy!
WOW. Can’t wait to try this!
Oh my! I’ve just found you! How lucky am I? This looks amazing; thank you so much
Aw thanks, Shannon!
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Amy – can I make these a day early or do they have to be served immediately??
They are definitely best the day you make them, but what you could do is make the dough and caramelize the onions ahead of time and then just put them together the day you want to eat them. Or worst case, make ahead of time and reheating in the oven would be decent.
Amy – I just made these for my Purim Shabbat services tonight and I’m WORRIED – there might not be any left by the time we get there! These are the most mouth watering, delicious things I’ve ever eaten! If you can’t find pizza dough yeast – no worries we used regular and the dough is amazing! I will try to post photos if possible. THANKS for this recipe!
(if I can’t post photos, they’re on my fb profile page that I logged in with!)
Thanks Cantor Debbi!! So glad you enjoy them. Can I share your photos on my Facebook page?
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[…] we get to the tarts, a little housekeeping. I forgot to mention, but y’all may have seen my savory caramelized onion hamantaschen on The Today Show Blog last week. Here is the link if Jew wanna check it out! Also, today is the […]
These sound amazing. Adding them to my recipe list this week!
Thanks!!
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