Hamantaschen, a cookie bursting with history

This week at Breads Bakery in New York, one cookie is sure to surpass the rest. “Hamantaschen is the most perfect little cookie,” said owner Gadi Peleg. “The most requested item that we can keep doing all year round is the hamantaschen.”

Hamantaschen, a triangle-shaped cookie, is served during the Jewish holiday of Purim, which begins on Wednesday.

In the days before Purim, Peleg expects to sell up to 10,000 cookies a day, with a variety of fillings: chocolate (“somewhat like a brownie nestled inside the cookie”), poppy seeds or jam.

“It’s the perfect cookie because it contains what I call the golden section of the cookie,” Peleg said. “There is exactly one to one ratio of filling to crust.”

Stephanie Butnick, deputy editor of Tablet Magazine and presenter of the Unorthodox podcast, explained how this cookie intersects with Purim’s story: “Purim’s story is actually one of the most dramatic stories in the Bible. “The only story in the Hebrew Bible that does not mention God. It is a purely human drama. And it is extremely dramatic.”

The story of Purim begins in ancient Persia, with a king, a queen and an evil, the king’s adviser, Haman. “Haman hates Jews,” Butnik told correspondent Faith Sally. “What he does not know is that Queen Esther is a secret Jew. And so, when she is actually preparing this plan to kill all the Jews in ancient Persia, Esther decides that if she wants to save the Jews, she must essentially escape as a Jew. “

Thus, Esther confronts the king and finally convinces him to stop Aman’s conspiracy. “Jews are saved, Haman is killed and this is the holiday we celebrate today,” Butnik said.

The dough, however, is not baked on holiday until the 16th century, when it was inspired by the German mohntaschen cookie (mohn which means poppy seed and tash meaning pockets).

Batnik said, “Haman is the bad guy in Purim history. And so, the Jews said something like, ‘Wait, what would happen if we said this hamadashen cookie?’ And can we eat it in Purim? “And now, we have these hamantaschens that are technically Haman’s pockets. But people say they’re Haman’s ears, people say they’re Haman’s hat. So we just made this the cookie in what we want it to be. “

And as the concept of the triangle has evolved, so has the hamantaschen itself. At Breads Bakery, chef Edan Leshnick has cooked new flavors – pizza hamantaschen, anyone? – and classics like the poppy.

The process of making hamantaschen is relatively simple and the meaning of the triangle is even a little silly. But when put in context, Butnick said it’s a recipe for what Jewish celebrations are:

“For me, it is this Jewish spirit of resilience and celebration that we eat a cookie named after one of the top villains in Jewish history,” he said.

“Yes, it’s like taking a bite out of Jewish survival,” Sally said.

“Yes, they tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat a delicious cookie!”

RECIPE: Apple Hamantaschen from Breads Bakery

For more information:

• Breads Bakery, New York
• stephaniebutnick.com
• “Unorthodox” podcast (Tablet Magazine)

The production story of Sara Kugel. Edited by: Remington Korper.