Category: Purim

Corndog Hamantaschen

My friend recently commented to me that she is really enjoying all of the unique hamantaschen she sees popping up on her newsfeed. “Is it like a competition between you guys?,” she wanted to know. Well, no. OK, maybe a little.

It’s not a competition as much as it is a desire to come up with the most brilliant, out of the box, knock-your-socks-off kind of hamantasch that outshines all the rest. So it’s not really about the others. It’s just about yours being THAT GOOD. And it’s not just about hamantaschen either. It’s about always being at the top of your game because that’s what food bloggers do. We try to stay ahead of the trends, create cool hybrid dishes and wow our readers so they keep coming back for more.

So how did I do? Is this corndog hamantasch hybrid mindblowing enough to explode on your newsfeed?! Just wait until you taste them. They’re nice and crispy, with an amazing texture from the coarse cornmeal that’s unlike any hamantasch you’ve ever had.

People always ask me how I come up with this stuff and the answer is, I have no idea. Sometimes it hits me in the dead of night, when insomnia rears it’s ugly head. Sometimes, I’m lacking inspiration so I browse the web for ideas on popular food trends. And sometimes it’s because I’m a mom, and when I can get my kids to eat something, I go all out viral with the idea.

These particular hamantaschen did not take a lot of convincing. My kids are huge fans of Abeles & Heymann’s hot dogs and they are equally obsessed with my nondairy cornbread. I’ve only made homemade corndogs once, as a midnight snack when they were fast asleep (I may or may not have been pregnant at the time) but I often make mini corndog muffins filled with hot dog chunks. Corndog hamantaschen are definitely new in this house, but as I tested different batches of dough, they seemed to disappear as each tray came out of the oven.

What I love about this recipe is that you can easily use it for sweet applications as you can with savory hot dogs. I tested a batch with strawberry rhubarb jam and they were incredible. I’m definitely going to try it with blueberry jam too. and of course, after Purim, you can just make them into thin round cookies and forget the whole triangle thing.

But for now, the triangle thing is super fun and I already have a frozen batch to serve up for the Purim seudah! I might make a batch of baklava hamantaschen for dessert. Or, another special recipe that I’ll be sharing up on the blog soon!

What are some of your favorite creative hamantaschen to make on Purim? Or are you more of a traditionalist? I don’t think I have ever made traditional hamantaschen in my life, can you imagine? If I want apricot or raspberry hamantaschen, I just buy them at the bakery. That’s what they’re there for, right?!

In the meantime, I’ll be savoring the rest of this savory batch, if my kids don’t get to it first. Happy Purim Prep!

Corndog Hamantaschen

1 cup cornmeal
1 1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1/3 cup canola oil
2 tbsp unsweetened almond milk
4 Abeles & Heymann beef hot dogs
mustard, for dipping, optional

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, whisk the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, oil and almond milk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir with a fork until the dough is the texture of wet sand. Using your hands, knead the dough together until soft. Flour your work surface and rolling pin and roll out the dough until about 1/4″ thick. Cut circles out of a dough using a round cookie cutter (see note). Cut the hot dogs into 1/4″ thick slices and put a slice in the center of each circle of dough. Fold corners in to create a triangle shape and pinch to close. Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet for 10-12 minutes, until crispy and just starting to lightly brown underneath.

NOTE: I used a 2.5″ cookie cutter, but this fits the hot dogs just/just and makes small hamantaschen. For more traditional size hamantaschen that have more room for folding, use a 3″ cutter.

OPTIONAL TOPPINGS: serve alongside sauerkraut, pickle relish and other hot dog toppings of your choice.

SERVING: these are best served fresh, however, they may be frozen after baking and rewarmed in a 350 degree oven until the hot dogs are warm and the cookie crisps up, about 5 minutes.

YIELD: 30-40 hamantaschen, depending on size.


This post was sponsored by Abeles & Heymann

Related Recipes:

savory hamantaschen trio
hot dog eggrolls
vegetarian chili and cornbread

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Purim Deviled Eggs

You probably never thought you’d hear a nice Jewish girl say this, but thank G-d for Easter! You see, I just wasn’t feeling Purim this year. I’ve been busier than ever (I think I should change my name to BUSIER in Brooklyn) and as hard as I tried, I couldn’t really come up with a fun food gift that wouldn’t break the bank.

Enter Target’s dollar section AKA my favorite place of all time! Since I couldn’t seem to come up with something, I decided to shop around and let the aisles do the talking. Well talk, they did! When I saw these adorable Easter egg crates, I knew exactly what I was going to make. Total cost: $1.

After I found the egg crates, I realized that I would need something to place them in – something nice and sturdy, that would hold them in place. Well, I didn’t have to look much further. A bit deeper in to the Target bargain bins, I found these square wooden boxes, which fit the crates just right. Total cost: $3.

Now all I needed was to fill the empty space next to the eggs, but what to put? Hmm, deviled eggs, deviled…hot…hot sauce! The perfect accompaniment to deviled eggs! So I did what any bargain hunter would do, on my way home from Target, I stopped by every little supermarket I could find and went straight for the condiment aisle. I tried all the bottles to see what would fit, until I scored the ultimate find! OU certified Louisiana hot sauce at 4 for $1. You got that right! FOUR whole bottles for one hundred pennies! The original price was $3.19 per bottle, but they were on special just this week! Talk about good timing!

I also scored this amazing copper beer bucket at Target for just $3 – a great addition to my growing props collection. And the plastic eggs that came with the egg cartons? My kids are gonna have a ball with those.

So, Target loot in hand, I went home and cooked up some 6 dozen eggs. Cooking in bulk always reminds me why I never want to go into the catering business. Peeling them was such a pain, and my house literally stunk like a chicken coop! Do you know what the secret to easy egg peeling is? Use old eggs. Seriously! The fresher the egg, the harder they are to peel. And do you think I remembered to buy eggs two weeks ago? NO. This girl, who knew the secret to easy-egg-peeling, bought FRESH eggs. I kid you not.


Now if you want to serve up deviled eggs vertical-style (stuffing them standing up instead of cutting them in half lengthwise), here’s what I learned: you need to slice off the top from the wide end of the egg. If you start from the narrow tip, you’re gonna lose half the egg before you reach enough of the yellow to be able to get it out. Once I sliced off the wide end, I squeezed gently on the whites and the yolk literally plops out. It even makes a “plopping” noise. Kind of funny!

Once I’ve separated my yolks from the whites, I go ahead and fill my food processor with the yolks, adding in some mayo, mustard, pickle relish, onion powder and salt. I give it a whirl and let it go until the mixture is nice and creamy. Then, I scoop the creamy filling into a ziploc bag and cut off the tip. I fill the whites with the yolks and top it with a bit of chopped green onion. Simple. Clean. And oh so yummy.

Deviled eggs, check. Egg cartons, check. Hot sauce, check.

Now the only thing left to do, was make a cute card – and it came to me just as I was putting the finishing touches on my crates. Why not use yellow and white card stock to make an egg-shaped card? I’m not a big fan of my handwriting so creating tags on the computer really works for me! Seriously, how cute are these?!

I hope you enjoyed my little peek into my family’s shalach manos! Wishing you and yours a truly EGGSELLENT PURIM!

If this post has induced a deviled eggs craving, I’ve got you covered! Check out this classic recipe, or try this pickled one!

And if you’d like to print your own Egg cards, download the template here (I reduced the size for the yolk portion of the card).

What did you make for shalach manos this year? Share your Purim ideas with me in the comments below!

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Beer Battered Salami Chips with Beer Mustard

Oh yes I did. I made SALAMI. ON. STEROIDS.

And I didn’t have much choice either. I mean, there’s pretty much no outdoing my drunken hasselback salami, so I had to go there. And by there I mean, the deep fryer.

Ever since I read about a not-so-well-known custom to eat salami on Purim (to commemorate the hanging of HAMAN…hanging….salami….get it?), I’ve been banging out salami recipes for the holiday. Truth be told, I have no idea if this is a real thing, or if I happened upon a practical joke, but regardless, this taking-salami-to-the-next-level challenge has been a blast.

And it’s so ironic because I literally hated salami growing up. My mom used to feed us salami sandwiches for lunch every Friday afternoon. She’d smear ketchup on rye and top it with thick slices of salami all wrapped up in a foil package so we could take it along as we played in the courtyard of our building. One at a time, we’d chuck those salami sandwiches down the incinerator, and my mom was none the wiser! Fast forward some 20+ years and here. I. am.

Now when I think about this recipe, I have to admit, it’s like the ultimate guy food. It’s got beer, salami and it’s fried. I mean, seriously, could you ask for anything more?

Apparently you can. Because, not only did I come up with the ultimate finger food, I even made a beer dipping sauce, just to take the whole Purim thing over the top. Because that’s the way I roll. Or hang, apparently.

I’ve never made mustard from scratch before so I was excited to give it a try. There’s something really interesting I discovered about mustard in this recipe creation process. When mustard is exposed to heat, it loses it’s potency. (Same goes for horseradish and wasabi by the way)! I learned this by trying the same mustard recipe two ways – one used a bit more beer so I reduced it over heat, and the other I blended in the food processor to thicken, using no heat. The results were astounding! The blended mustard is super hot, while the cooked mustard is mildly sweet with little heat. Pretty awesome, right?

When the crispy salami and beer mustard meet, it’s the ultimate marriage. And it’s not just any salami, by the way. I used my favorite brand, Abeles & Heymann, because after visiting their factory a few months ago, and watching the salami-making process with my own eyes, I know their salami is made with the highest quality ingredients from start to finish!

And I wouldn’t think of coating that salami in anything less than the perfect crispy batter – which is what you get from beer batter. It’s super light and crisp, and let’s not forget, easy! Beer batter is just flour and beer and that’s it. Because the salami is packed with flavor, I don’t add much else, but you can always add a pinch of cayenne for some heat, if you’d like.

Now that we have the ultimate party food, lets discuss the Jewish holiday of Purim for a second! The Purim celebration is based upon the biblical Book of Esther, which recounts the story of Queen Esther and how she saved the Jewish people from annihilation at the hands of Haman (after whom the HAMANtasch is named). We celebrate with a festive feast (where these salami chips must make an appearance!), sending food gifts to family and friends, drinking until we don’t know the difference between the evil HAMAN and the righteous MOREDECHAI, and of course, dressing up as characters in the Purim story.

Growing up, Purim was always our favorite holiday, and you can imagine why. We got to dress up, deliver goodies to our friends and gorge on hamantaschen. As an adult, I love to put my own twist on the holiday with creative themes on my food gifts, fun twists on holiday cocktails and of course, crazy spins on salami!

If you live in Brooklyn, Queens or The Five Towns, be sure to check out my other salami recipe in the all new FYI Magazine! I’m so excited to join the team of FYI as the food editor, with a column for Fast & Fresh recipes as well as a Nutritious and Delicious section. This month, I’ve got a quick and easy salami quiche as well as a Persian twist on dried fruit truffles – perfect for your Purim feast or your Mishloach Manos.

Whether you choose to take on the Purim salami tradition or not, just remember to have fun and be joyous, because that’s what this holiday is all about! :) Happy Purim!

Beer Battered Salami Chips

1 16oz. Abeles & Heymann salami, sliced
1 cup all purpose flour
1 12oz. bottle of beer, ale preferred
pinch of salt

Method:

Add the flour and salt to a bowl and whisk to combine. Pour in the beer and stir until a thick batter forms. It should be a little thicker than pancake batter. You’ll need most of the bottle of beer (with about 1/2 cup left over).

Heat a few inches of oil in a saucepan to 350 degrees.

Dip the salami slices in the beer batter and place in the hot oil. Fry a few at a time until golden brown on one side, and then flip over to brown the other side. Remove with a slotted spoon or spider and drain on paper towels. To keep the salami chips crisp, remove from the paper towels and place on a rack.

Beer Mustard, Two Ways

1/2 cup yellow mustard seeds
1 12 oz. beer, ale preferred
3 tbsp mustard powder
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2 heaping tbsp honey
1/4 c brown sugar
1 tsp salt

For sweet mustard, soak the mustard seeds in the beer overnight. Place the mustard seeds with the soaking liquid and all the remaining ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to break up the bubbles. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes, until the mixture has reduced and thickened. Stir occasionally, so the mustard seeds don’t burn or stick to the bottom of the pan. Be sure not to thicken the mustard too much as it will thicken more once cooled.

For spicy mustard (VERY SPICY!), soak the mustard seeds in 1 cup of beer (not the whole bottle) overnight. Place the mustard seeds with the soaking liquid and the remaining ingredients (excluding the leftover beer) in a food processor. Blend until the mustard seeds break down and the mixture thickens (it will thicken more in the fridge).

For either mustard, store in a glass jar in the fridge, giving it a few days for the flavors to meld and develop.

FOR A LIMITED TIME, GET 15% OFF YOUR ABELES & HEYMANN ONLINE ORDER USING COUPON CODE “BUSY”!

Salami making at the Abeles & Heymann factory with owner, Seth Levitt! This is the first and last time you will see me in a lab coat and hairnet ;)

This post is sponsored by Abeles & Heymann. Follow them on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter! 

Other Salami Recipes:

drunken hasselback salami
baked salami chips with dijon dipping sauce

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Raspberry Hamantaschen Hand Pies

I can’t believe the blogosphere is already awash with hamantaschen recipes. Is it just me or has this year literally flown by?!


Purim is one of my favorite holidays, and I’m sure it is for you too! Any holiday where we get to dress up in fun costumes, eat a nonsensical amount of candy and drink until we don’t know the difference between Haman and Mordechai is fine. by. me.

Purim is about JOY and FAMILY and TRADITION and I love to shake things up with fun and exciting recipes. Last year, my drunken hasselback salami went out all out viral and my Hamantini cocktail took a festive cookie to the next level. We can’t forget my sushi hamantaschen, baklava hamantaschen, mustache glasses, and other Purim fun, all easily accessible in my Purim column. There are some really great recipes coming up as well that I can’t wait to share with you!


As you can see, I love shaking things up, and whenever I get a chance to deconstruct a traditional holiday food, I take it and run! Hybrid recipes are my all time favorite and these hamantaschen hand pies are just the thing. If you’re not familiar with hand pies, they are basically a handheld pie made with a flaky pie crust and filled with fruit filling. They’re usually folded over into a semicircle shape, but are sometimes rectangular or even round. I’ve never seen triangular hand pies so I thought they’d make the perfect hamantasch!


My first batch was not as successfull as these beauties here. At first, I just made slits in the dough, ala classic pie, but they just looked like rustic hand pies, not hamantaschen. I troubleshooted and then these were born. And I couldn’t love them any more. They’re not only rustic and adorable, they taste AMAZING too. I think I even like them more than the traditional!


Would you believe that I’ve never made real, traditional hamantaschen? I was always scared away by those sob stories where the hamantaschen opened during baking and all the jam bled out. I also love the packaged store-bought variety that is full of additivies and junk. I mean it’s Purim after all. So if you’re gonna gorge on candy, you might as well eat a hamatasch. The real, margarine and preservative kind (so says the Paleo enthusiast lol).


While we’re on the topic of fun hamantasch recipes, here are some of my favorites from around the web: rainbow hamantaschen, funfetti hamataschen, fluffernutter hamantaschen, speculoos hamantaschen, smores hamantaschen, and halva hamantaschen. I also love the idea of savory hamantaschen, Bon Appetit‘s got a great variety from around the world.

What’s your favorite version? Share it with me in the comments below!


Raspberry Hamantaschen Hand Pies

1 recipe pie crust (recipe follows)
1 recipe raspberry pie filling (recipe follows)
1 egg + 1 tbsp water, for eggwash
demerara sugar, for sprinkling
glaze, recipe follows

Method:

Roll out the pie crust and cut out triangle shapes with a cookie cutter. Repeat until you’ve used up all the scraps of dough. Reserve half to be used for the top of the hamantaschen and half to be used for the bottom. Using the triangles that you reserved for the top, cut a tiny triangle in the center of each with a sharp knife.

Fill each of the triangles that you reserved for the bottom with about 1/2 teaspoon of raspberry pie filling. Brush the edges of the dough with water and top each one carefully with the triangles that you reserved for the top. Using a fork, press down all around the dough to seal. Brush with eggwash and sprinkle with demerara sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool completely and drizzle with glaze.

For Pie Crust:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup ice water

Method:

Pulse the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Add butter and continue to pulse until the mixture is the texture of a coarse meal. Add the water and blend until the dough comes together in clumps. Form the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until chilled.

For Raspberry Pie Filling:
6 oz fresh raspberries
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp lemon
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp water

Method:

Place the raspberries, sugar and lemon in a small saucepan. Dissolve the cornstarch in the water and add to the pot. Cook the mixture over medium heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until raspberries are soft and the mixture has thickened. Set aside to cool.

NOTE: You may use frozen raspberries as well. If needed, add an additional teaspoon of cornstarch dissolved in a tablespoon of water to thicken up the juices.

For Glaze:
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
6 tsp milk or water
splash of vanilla

Mix all the ingredients together until the powdered sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture is thick, but slightly runny.

VARIATION: Try the filling with other berries, or use canned pie filling or jam for a quick and easy substitute. For the drizzle, you may also use white or dark chocolate.



Related Recipes:

date and almond marzipan hamantaschen
baklava hamantaschen
sushi hamantaschen
savory hamantaschen trio
The Hamantini

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Drunken Hasselback Salami

I bet you’ve never heard of anything like drunken hasselback salami. Hasselback potatoes, maybe. What are they? Well back in the 1940’s, a dish of whole potatoes cut to resemble an accordion was first served at the Hasselbacken restaurant in Stockholm. Cutting the potatoes this way results in a soft and creamy interior with crisped and browned edges.

Hasselback potatoes have been popular ever since, most commonly served in a simple preparation of butter and salt. I put my own twist on these a while back, using sweet potatoes & apples for a sweet variation.

For Purim, I decided to really bring some hassel back with a sweet & savory combo of salami in an apricot-brand glaze. Since salami is a food that is traditionally hung to dry, many have a custom to eat it on Purim to commemorate the hanging of Haman.

There’s no question that this drunken hasselback salami will be the star of your Purim meal! I couldn’t resist adding some booze to the sauce to really take it over the top. Coming from a former salami-averter, trust me when I tell you that this stuff will please even the pickiest palate. Salami is NOT my thing, or I should say, WAS not my thing – until I ate this. My husband and kids gobbled it up, sopping up the extra sauce with the pulled salami chips.

The first time I tried to make hasselback potatoes, I inadvertently sliced all the way through so many times that my accordion potato morphed into a gratin. But after stumbling upon the coolest hasselback trick, I haven’t screwed up a single potato since! Simply place a chopstick on either side of the potato (or salami) and slice. The knife will stop cutting when it hits the chopstick for perfect accordions every time! How cool is that?

This finger-licking hasselback experiment has got my wheels turning. I’m already dreaming up lots of other accordion-style treats – stay tuned!

Drunken Hasselback Salami

16oz. salami
1/2 cup apricot jam
1/4 cup spicy brown mustard
3 tbsp brandy*
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp brown sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Add all ingredients besides for salami to a pot and whisk over medium heat until jam is melted and mixture begins to boil and thicken. Remove the wrapper from the salami and place on a cutting board with chopsticks on either side. Holding the salami down with one hand, slice into thin, even slices (don’t worry, the chopsticks will ensure that you don’t slice all the way through).

Generously brush the salami with the sauce, making sure to get in between all the slices. Bake for approximately 45 minutes, basting every 10-15 minutes, until the salami is browned and crispy around the edges. Serve warm with leftover sauce for dipping.

NOTE: You will notice that the salami will begin to turn and split open in a certain spot. When basting, split the salami open in different areas so it can brown evenly all over instead of just one spot.

*If you do not have brandy, you may use bourbon instead.

Related recipes:

hasselback sweet potatoes with apples
salami chips with dijon dipping sauce

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