Ahh these beautiful triangle cookies get me every time! I wanted to try to make my own version, a Savory Hamentashen to honor my ancestors. My Mema would make a batch of these every year around this time, for a Jewish holiday named Purim.

Why do we eat hamentashen?

Purim is a Jewish holiday to celebrate the Jewish people being saved from Haman. Around the late 1500s, German Jews dubbed them Hamantaschen, or “Haman’s pockets.” The pastries are supposed to symbolize the defeated enemy of the Jewish people.

Nowadays, to celebrate the holiday, Jews make gift baskets and deliver them to their loved ones and they also make cookies called Hamentashen. The cookies are usually sweet, filled with fruit jam, but I wanted to put a little savory spin on these, and make Savory Hamentashen. I decided to make two types of filling, a Potato and Cheese and a Spinach and Feta.

The potato and cheese reminds me of a pierogi. Part of my heritage is Polish Jew, so this really speaks to me. 🙂 The spinach and feta combination is just because I love that flavor combination. I thought it would be a great fit! I love savory hamentashen so much!

Instead of making homemade dough, I googled and saw you can use pie crust. You just want to make sure it doesn’t include lard in it. Lard is a pork product and not Kosher. Although I eat plenty of Bacon, something about using pork products to recreate historically Jewish food just makes me uncomfortable.

So, alas, I found pie crust without lard at Trader Joe’s. I used this recipe to figure out temperature and timing. https://www.myjewishlearning.com/the-nosher/easiest-hamantaschen-recipe-ever/amp/ I cooked it just a bit longer because I wanted them to be a little more brown!

Can you freeze Hamentashen?

Baked hamantaschen are best served the same day they are made, but they can be frozen for a few weeks. Defrost them completely before serving.

Savory Hamentaschen

Famous Purim cookies with savory fillings

Print Recipe

Course Dessert

Cuisine jewish

Ingredients

Potato and Cheese Hamentashen

2 pie crusts without lard
3 Large Potatoes peeled and cut into large cubes
3.5 tbsp Butter
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1.5 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 large Onion caramelized
1 tbsp each Oil and Butter to cook the Onions

Spinach and Feta Hamentashen

2 pie crusts without lard
10 oz Frozen Spinach drained
3/4 block Feta 3/4s of the whole block
1.5 tbsp Lemon Juice
1/2 tbsp Fresh Dill
1/4 Cup Green Onions diced
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1 medium egg

Instructions

Potato and Cheese Hamentashen

bring water to a boil and add potatoes. Cook until soft and mashable
while potatoes are boiling, slice onions and cook them in 1 Tbsp olive oil + 1 Tbsp butter on low for 20 minutes until they are a nice golden brown color.
let potatoes cool slightly, then add to a bowl and mash potatoes with 3tbsp of butter
add remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix
preheat the oven to 400F
roll out the thawed dough and using a 2 or 3 inch circlular cookie cutter, cut out circles.
fill each circle with 1tsp of filling. Fold each circle into a triangle. If they are having trouble sticking, you can use scrambled egg whites as glue.
Bake for 14 minutes

Spinach and Feta Hamentashen

thaw and drain frozen spinach
add spinach to a bowl with half a block of crumbles feta cheese and black pepper
chop up the dill and green onions and add to the bowl
squeeze lemon juice and add to the bowl.
crack 1 medium egg in a bowl, scramble it in the bowl, and then add to the spinach mixture. Mix all Ingredients well
preheat the oven to 400F
roll out the thawed dough and using a 2 or 3 inch circular cookie cutter, cut out circles.
fill each circle with 1tsp of filling. Fold each circle into a triangle. If they are having trouble sticking, you can use scrambled egg whites as glue.
Bake for 14 minutes