Hamantasch are Israeli filled biscuits, made with poppy seeds. These biscuits are usually made for Purim, a Jewish religious holiday. I made them because I had the recipe saved up for a while and because I wanted to make some as props for a lovely book I read on Israel. Here is my book review, if you fancy having a look.

These are very good and not very sweet, which is exactly as I like biscuits to be. If you want biscuits that are sweeter, you can cover them with chocolate, for example. I saw many variations for these biscuits online, when I was doing my research about them.

Ingredients for 20 Hamantasch:

– 175g white self-raising flour
– 90g margarine
– 70g sugar
– half of beaten free-range egg
– 1/2 tsp vanilla paste
– 75g poppy seeds
– 75ml soy milk
– 20g honey
– 20g raisins
– 1 spoon oil

Put the flour, margarine, sugar, egg, and vanilla paste in the bowl of the food processor and mix until it starts to form a dough. Tip it onto the floured worktop and knead it until is a smooth dough. Cover it with cling film and put it in the fridge overnight. An hour or two should be enough, but it was very easy to make the dough in the evening and bake the biscuits in the morning.

To make the filling, put the poppy seeds, milk, honey, raising, and the oil in a pan and cook it over medium heat. Stir from time to time and leave it on the hob for about 10-15 minutes. I cooked mine for 13 minutes. Take it off the heat. Leave the poppy mixture to cool down completely before making the biscuits.

Roll the dough on a floured surface at 4mm in thickness. Cut round biscuits of 6cm in diameter. Put a bit of poppy mixture in the middle, brush the sides with a bit of water, so the dough sticks to it. Then raise the sides to give it this form. The filling should be visible. Place the biscuits on a baking tray lined with baking paper. I think is much easier to make the biscuits directly on the baking paper, as the dough is a bit soft. You can brush them with a bit of soy milk of not, depending on your preferences.

Bake the biscuits for up to 20 minutes, in the preheated oven, at 180C or 160C for fan ovens. I baked mine for 19 minutes and they are perfectly baked.

Have you ever had Hamantasch biscuits before?