Lemon Lavender Hamentashen

lemon-lavender-hamentashen

Disclosure: I got this silicone baking product mentioned below as part of an advertorial. All opinions and content are my own.

I know I just shared some hamentashen the other day, but since those kimchi hamentashen were savory, I decided to share something sweet with you today. I also wanted to feature my awesome new Cuina Silicone baking mat with you. I figured that freshly baked hamentashen were the perfect way to take advantage of both needs. Stay tuned for the end of this post. You’ll have a chance to win your own Silicone baking mat!

It’s Meyer Lemon season apparently.  I don’t think I’ve ever cooked with them, but I love the taste. They are much sweeter than traditional lemons. When I saw them at the market, I knew I had to incorporate some of them in to my cooking or baking. I’ve been wanting to make lemon curd since I can’t seem to find one that is kosher certified. I was surprised to find out how easy it is to make the curd.

I combined egg yolk with sugar and heated over medium heat, whisking the whole time. I then juiced and zested the lemons and stirred it in to the egg yolks mixture. I stirred for several minutes, letting it thicken then added a stick of butter. You want the mixture to get thick. It should coat the back of your wooden spoon. Once ready. I transferred to jars and chilled in the refrigerator.

lemon-curd-collage

I was debating between lemon rosemary or lemon lavender dough for the hamentashen. I have a foolproof hamentashen dough that I have played with over the years and knew I could make it work for this application. I just had to choose the right herb. I cook with rosemary often, but rarely use lavender – yet I have it in my house. I decided to challenge myself and use the lavender. I know that both herbs work well with lemon anyways, just not necessarily all together.

I mixed up the dough in my Kitchenaid. I then transferred the dough to a rolling mat coated with lots of flour. I rolled out the dough, and with a small drinking glass, I cut rounds of dough. I then shaped in to Hamentashen and transferred to my baking mat lined baking pan.

dough-rounds

Now I want to tell you about this Cuina Kitchen brand silicone baking mat. The fine folks at Cuina Kitchen sent it to me and I was so excited since I had never used one before. I always tend to use parchment paper instead. This silicone baking mat allows you to make cookies without any spray or parchment paper. You just place the mat in your half sheet pan and the cookies go on. They didn’t stick at all! It was so simple. Why did I never buy a baking mat before? Anyways, I highly recommend this silicone baking mat. It worked really well. My cookies came out perfectly and there was no sticky mess to clean up. At the bottom of this post, you’ll have your very own chance to win one of these baking mats!

cuina-kitchen-sheet

Meyer Lemon Curd
 
Author:
Recipe type: spread, sweet
Ingredients
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 1 cup sugar
  • Juice and Zest from 4-5 Meyer Lemons (around ½ cup of juice)
  • 1 stick butter
  • 1 tsp. salt
Instructions
  1. Beat the egg yolks with a form lightly and place in a small heavy-bottomed sauce pan, along with the cup of sugar.
  2. Whisk well over medium heat, letting the sugar melt in.
  3. Add in the lemon juice and zest and stir with a wooden spoon. Let the mixture thicken a bit.
  4. Stir in the butter, keep stirring with the wooden spoon until the back of the spoon is coated in the curd mixture.
  5. Once the curd has thickened, remove from heat, transfer to jars and chill in refrigerator. Enjoy!



  meyerlemoncurd  

Lemon Lavender Hamentashen
 
Author:
Ingredients
  • 1 cup lemon curd (see recipe above)
  • 1 stick butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp. ground vanilla
  • 1 tbsp. lavender
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 2 cups flour (plus more for rolling
  • 1 tsp. salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375.
  2. Cream the butter and sugar together.
  3. Mix in the eggs, vanilla and the lavender.
  4. Add in the dry ingredients and mix well until it forms a dough.
  5. Transfer to a rolling area that has been liberally dusted with flour.
  6. Make sure to dust your hands and rolling pin as well.
  7. In batches, roll out the dough to about a ½-inch thickness. Cut out circles of dough with a glass. Place a teaspoon of the filling at the center of the dough round. Pinch corners in well to form a triangle.
  8. Transfer formed hamentashen to a lined baking mat.
  9. Bake in oven for around 10-11 minutes.
  10. Cool on rack.
  11. Enjoy!

Lemon-Lavender-Hamentashen-Upright

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

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Kimchi Hamentashen Dumplings

kimchi-hamentashen

The Jewish holiday of Purim will be upon us in a few weeks, and I’m in that creative zone thinking about what to prepare. Purim is a very lighthearted holiday. You can learn more about it here.

One of the foods that we traditionally eat on Purim are hamentashen. They are usually triangular filled cookies made to represent the evil Haman from the holiday story. I’ve been making these little cookies since I was a kid, but in the past few years, I’ve been trying to balance the savory and the sweet when making my hamentashen for the Jewish Holiday of Purim. This year was no different.

I’ve been brainstorming various flavors this year and hope to share a few of them with you over the next several days.

This hamentashen came about because I’ve been wanting to make traditional Korean Mandu for a while now. I’m also a huge fan of Kimchi – and from that, kimchi dumplings, of course. It dawned on me last week, that I could possibly turn it in to a hamentashen of sorts. Both are always filled and shaped. Why not? I made some vegan  daikon kimchi a few weeks ago, so these dumplings came together quickly.

I decided to cook them potsticker style so that I could keep the hamentashen dumplings up right, so that it looked like a traditional hamentashen where you can see the filling.

I started by quickly stir-frying some tofu with ginger and garlic. Next, I added in some grated carrots, scallions and Napa cabbage. Once that mixture had softened, I added some of my special radish kimchi. I added enough that it was would contribute a lot of flavor to the mix, but I didn’t want the kimchi to overpower or overheat the dumpling. The smell coming off of the pan is amazing! I seasoned with a small amount of salt – about a teaspoons.

dumpling-filling

When the filling mixture was done cooking, I transferred it to a bowl and let it cool.

I placed a tablespoon of the filling in the dumpling wrappers and then pinched the round dough to form corners, like I’ve done in the past with my hamentashen cookies. I dabbed the corners with a bit of water mixed with corn starch. It helps glue the corners in a bit.

Shaping Kimchi Dumplings

Once I prepared several dumplings, I heated my pan with vegetable and sesame oils. I placed the dumplings in the pan and let them brown a bit. Once they were browned, I added some water to the pan and covered the pan to let them steam. I removed the lid when the water had evaporated.

Prepping and Cooking Dumplings

We then dug in.

Oh my. Now this is a hamentashen to enjoy and be proud of! Definitely making these dumplings and these hamentashen again.


Kimchi Hamentashen Dumplings
 
Author:
Ingredients
  • 2 tsp. vegetable oil
  • 2 tsp. sesame oil
  • ½ lb. super firm tofu, diced small
  • 2 tbsp. ginger, peeled and minced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 carrots, peeled and grated
  • ¾ cup napa cabbage, chopped
  • ¾ cup daikon kimchi (veganized), chopped (can sub cabbage kimchi if you have that)
  • 2 scallions, sliced thinly
  • 1-2 tsp. salt - as needed
  • dumpling wrappers (I used around 30)
  • ½ cup warm water mixed with a 3 tsp. corn starch (to seal the dumplings)
  • 2 tsp. vegetable oil
  • 2 tsp. sesame oil
  • water for steaming
Dipping Sauce
  • 3 tbsp. tamari
  • 2 tsp. sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp. rice vinegar
  • chopped scallions
Instructions
  1. Heat up the 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil along with the 2 teaspoons of the sesame oil. Add in the tofu and cook for several minutes. Once the tofu is cooked a bit, add in the garlic and ginger.
  2. Let the garlic and ginger get fragrant, then add in the carrots, cabbage and scallions. Let them soften a bit.
  3. Next, add in the chopped kimchi. Stir everything together.
  4. Salt as necessary.
  5. Place a tablespoon of dumpling filling on the dumpling wrapper. Pinch in the corners and seal with the corn starch and water mixture.
  6. Repeat with more dumplings.
  7. Heat the oils in a large pan that has a fitting lid.
  8. Place the dumplings bottom down in the pan and let them brown a bit. Should take a couple of minutes. Once the dumplings have lightly browned on the bottom, pour about ⅔ cup of water in the bottom of the pan and cover pan with a lid to steam the dumplings.
  9. Let the dumplings steams until the water has evaporated completely.
  10. Transfer to a platter. Repeat with any additional dumplings.
  11. Dip the dumplings in a mixture of tamari, sesame oil, rice vinegar and scallions.
  12. Enjoy!

kimchi-hamentashen-dumplings-tall

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