Category Archives: Purim

Purim

Fluden

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My mother’s recipe, courtesy of my cousin.

  • 4–3/4 cups flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 cup shortening (margarine or Crisco)
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup honey

Mix dry ingredients. Add shortening, eggs and honey. Beat, or mix by hand if your beater’s not heavy enough to handle this dough. For fluden, grease 13×9 pan. Roll out thin sheets of dough to fit pan and just keep building layers of dough and any filling your little heart desires – jam, raisins & nuts, cinnamon sugar, canned pie filling, ground dates, oranges & apples, chocolate chips, coconut or chili peppers if you prefer! Bake at 350 about 1 hr. or until nice and brown. Have fun! You can spread a little beaten egg, or melted jam over the top to make it shiny. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar too if you like – it’s very creative—you can do almost anything you please with it and it’s always a little different.

My note: I believe she used this same dough to make Hamentaschen. My mom baked at a high altitude (about 4,700 feet above sea level), and I haven’t tried this recipe yet. You might need to increase the leavening by a very modest amount, but I doubt it. I do suspect that’s why the flour is not a full 5 cups, too.

Purim

Hamentaschen Sugar Dough

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Combine and set aside

  • 4 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt

In mixer, blend

  • 1 cup unsalted margarine

When softened, add

  • 3/4 cup sugar

When fully blended, add

  • 3/4 tsp vanilla
  • 1 egg
  • 2 TBL water

Depending on the humidity, size of the egg, etc., you may have to adjust the flour by 1/4 cup or water by 1TBL  to get the dough to hold together or not be sticky. Refrigerate dough overnight before using.

Working with about 1/4 of the dough at a time, roll to desired thickness (about 1/8 ” inch), cut into 3″ circles, top with 1 tsp filling (see Poppy Seed Filling or Prune Filling or buy commercial fillings), moisten outer ring of dough and form into triangles. Transfer to greased cookie sheet and brush with beaten egg. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 325 F convection; they should turn a golden color from the egg wash, but sometimes it doesn’t happen.

Depending on how thick you roll the dough and how large you cut the rounds, the yield will vary. This made about 5 dozen hamentaschen. If you go for thicker cookies (3/16 “), you’ll get about 3 dozen hamentaschen.

♦ATTN Because of the leavening, the cookies have a tendency to burst apart at the corners if they are not securely held together.

See Hamentaschen Honey Dough for an alternate recipe.

Purim

Poppy Seed Filling

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Combine and soak overnight in the refrigerator

  • 2 cups milk
  • 2 cups poppy seeds

In the morning put in large saucepan. ♦ATTN The mixture can boil up quickly so don’t start in a too-small pan. Add

  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup almond flour (or finely ground almonds)

Bring to a simmer, stirring regularly and ♦ATTN watching that it doesn’t boil over. When it reaches a simmer, lower the heat and maintain the simmer for 15 minutes. The mixture should be thicker.

Remove from heat and let cool. When cool add

  • 1 beaten egg

This is used to make Hamentaschen or Fluden.  See the recipes for Hamentaschen Sugar Dough and  Hamentaschen Honey Dough. This makes enough filling for about 80 hamentaschen, but it can be used for other recipes as well. It will keep for up to 6 months in the freezer.

 

Purim

Hamentaschen Honey Dough

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In a mixer, combine: 4 cups flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking powder in bowl of mixer. Add 1/2 cup softened shortening, 4 eggs and 1 cup honey. Combine until smooth. You may need to add up to 3/4 cup additional flour to get the dough to a good consistency: think cookie dough… that’s what it is.

You can use this to make Hamentaschen: Roll dough to 1/8-inch thick, cut into 2–1/2 inch circles, fill (see Poppy Seed Filling or Prune Filling or buy commercial fillings), form into triangles, brush with beaten egg and bake for 15-18 minutes at 350 F convection). It’s also the dough for making Fluden. See Hamentaschen Sugar Dough for an alternate recipe.

Purim, Year Round

Fluden

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Make Hamentaschen Honey Dough. Roll into a 1/8-inch layer large enough to cover bottom and go up sides of pan; trim off all but 3/8 inch that hangs beyond edge of pan. (You can use a 13×9 or 9×9 pan, depending on how much you want to make.) Spread a layer of filling on the bottom. Roll a layer of dough, a bit thinner than the outside layer. It needs to be big enough to cover the bottom and just fit in side the pan without going up the sides (or just a bit).

Alternate layers of filling and dough, ending when the last layer is near the top of the pan. You want to use many different kinds of fillings, such as Poppy Seed Filling, Prune Filling, preserves, chopped nuts, chocolate bits, etc. Commercial pastry filling should give you a broad range of choices.

When you get to the last layer, fold outer layer that you first placed in the pan back over the top layer of dough and try to seal it. Brush top with a beaten egg, sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar. Bake in oven at 325 F convection for 45-50 minutes. It will be a fairly dark brown on top.

Let cool and store covered. Cut into small squares. Fluden can also be frozen in chunks.

Purim

Prune Filling

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Combine 24 ounces dried prunes, 12 ounces dried apricots, 1/2 lemon, 1 orange (cut into 8 pieces) and water to just cover in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer until water is almost gone and fruits are soft. Let cool. Grind with 1–1/2 to 2 cups walnuts. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar to taste.

An alternate approach I’ve used is to simmer 20 ounces of prunes with 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water. I cooked them for 8 minutes in the microwave until they were fully rehydrated. I ground them in the meat grinder, added the grated peel from one large orange and 1/4 cup almond meal. I added no sugar.

Extra filling can be frozen and will easily keep for a year in the freezer. If you’re not making a big batch of Hamentaschen or Fluden, you might want to cut the quantities back. See the recipes for Hamentaschen Sugar Dough and  Hamentaschen Honey Dough.