Victory Over 'tashen

Last year, I knew it was purim when my roommate pulled out the crafting supplies and made glittery paper-plate party masks. He then mentioned something about a plan to drink until the line between good and evil blurs, and went off to purim festivities with his girlfriend.

And of course, I made busted hamantashen.

This year, I knew it was purim when my old catholic brother-in-law announced it on facebook.

So I took another swing at the poppy-filled cookies. These 'taschen were made with the citrus that I had on hand.

The poppy seed filling is optional. If you're hankering for something other than the nutty crunch of poppy, feel free to sub in your favorite homemade, or store-bought, jam or jelly. You could swap in chocolate spread. You could even use peanut butter and mini-marshmallows and make a strange fluffernutter.

Poppy Seed, Blood Orange Hamantashen
(adapted, gently, from Smitten Kitchen)

Poppy Seed Filling:

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup sugar

Zest of 1/2 blood orange

1/2 cup poppy seeds

Juice of 1/2 blood orange

1/2 tablespoon orange liqueur

1/2 tbsp butter

1/4 tbsp vanilla extract, or seeds of 1 vanilla bean

Dough:

Zest of 1 lime

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 and 1/8 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick (4 oz) salted butter, at room temperature

1 large egg yolk

Egg Wash:

1 large egg, beaten

Make the Filling:

Heat the milk, sugar, zest, and poppy seeds in a medium-small saucepan. Cook at a simmer for about twenty minutes. The seeds should begin to plump up slightly. You won't be able to actually see the seeds expand, but you should notice less liquid sloshing around.

Add in the juice, liqueur, butter and vanilla (extract or bean scrapings). Continue heating gently for another ten minutes. Allow the mixture to cool slowly, and then refrigerate it to cool further. The slow cool allows the poppy seeds to suck up as much of the liquid as is possible.

Make the Dough:

In a medium bowl, combine the zest, sugar, flour and salt. Dump in the butter and egg yolk, and use a pastry blender to process the dough until it comes together to form a crumbly mass.

Process a bit more until it hangs together, and then press the dough into a flat shape, and wrap tightly in plastic wrap.

Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour.

Form the Cookies:

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Gently flour your dough-working surface (table or counter) and roll the dough out to about a quarter-inch thickness. If the dough starts to crack as you're rolling, don't worry. Just go slowly, allowing it to warm up as you work.

Use a biscuit/cookie cutter or small glass to cut out 2.5 inch rounds, remushing and then re-rolling the scraps of dough to make as many rounds as possible.

Move your dough rounds to your parchment-lined baking sheets.

Put a heaping 1/2 teaspoon of poppy seed filling in the center of each round, and then fold, don't pinch, three sides of the dough over the filling to form the traditional tricorner shape.

Beat your egg wash egg, and then use a pastry brush to apply the wash to the formed cookies. The egg wash is bound to redistribute some of the poppy seeds across the face of the cookie. Don't worry about it. It's... an extra decorative touch.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F, and refrigerate the trays.

In about ten minutes, pull out the trays, and go over the cookies again with another layer of egg wash.

Bake for about 10 to 15 minutes, until the cookies go golden.

Brown Butter Vanilla Bean Rice Krispie Treats (Vegetarian)

It rained for the first half of Saturday. Sunday was turning out to be a similarly colorless day, aside from a hour-long window of sunlight in the mid afternoon.

I wanted to make something simple for cookie monday. Something with, say... 3 ingredients.

Generally speaking, rice krispie treats are made by melting marshmallows. As is the case for a surprising amount of candy, marshmallows get their springy set from gelatin. Fluff, on the other hand, is pig-pectin free. When planning out my baking for the night, I knew I'd be subbing in fluff for marshmallows.

But, of course, once I got in the kitchen, I started making more changes. I browned the butter (cooking the butter until the milk solids turn all golden and start smelling nutty and rich).

Then, at the last possible moment, when the fluff and butter were melting together, I remembered my cache of vanilla beans, and scraped one into the mix. Once melted, the fluff was smooth and shiny, flecked with black vanilla beans, and brown bits.

Rice Krispie Treats

(Brown Butter and Vanilla Vegetarian Variation)
1/2 stick butter

8 oz Marshmallow Fluff

5 cups puffed rice

1 vanilla bean

First, plan your end game: grease a 9x13 inch pan, and put 5 cups of puffed rice into a big mixing bowl.

In a medium-sized saucepan, melt the butter. Cook over low-medium heat, stirring frequently. The butter will turn clear, foam, and turn yellow-golden, and then brown.

Just as the butter is browning, glop 8oz of marshmallow fluff (one small jar, or half of a bigger tub) into the saucepan. Stir frequently.

Scrape one vanilla bean pod out into the mixture, and cook for about five minutes, stirring. When the butter has been fully mixed into the fluff, and the mixture is smooth, pour it into the puffed rice filled mixing bowl and stir to coat.

While still warm, turn the mixture into your prepared pan, and pat it flat, and refrigerate until set.

You can store this at room temperature for about 2 days, or in the fridge for longer.