Ricky Ian Gordon, composer

Arthur Miller Theatre –
Ann Arbor
Fri. Mar. 2 at 7:30 p.m.
Sat. Mar. 3 at 7:30 p.m.

27

1 / 3 cup plus 1 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. sea salt
2 cups plus 1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
Make the filling: Make the cream
cheese, poppy seed or apricot filling;
see the recipes that follow. Each filling
recipe makes enough for one batch of
cookie dough.
Make the dough: In a mixing bowl,
cream the butter and sugar until light
and creamy. This can be done by
hand or in a stand mixer fitted with
the paddle attachment on medium
speed. Add the egg, vanilla and salt
to the butter mixture and mix until
thoroughly combined. Add the flour
gradually, and mix until the ingredi-
ents are completely combined.
Remove the dough from the mixer,
press it into a flat square, and wrap it
with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 45
minutes before rolling out and filling.
The dough can be kept in the refrig-
erator for up to a week in this state.
Roll, fill and bake the hamantashen:
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Remove the dough from the refrig-
erator. Tap on the dough with your
rolling pin to soften it. Once it is more
flexible, remove the plastic wrap.
Lightly flour the work surface. Place
the dough on the floured surface.
Lightly flour the top of the dough and
roll the dough out until it is ¼ inch
thick.
Using a round cutter 3 inches in
diameter, cut out pieces of the rolled
dough and place on a parchment-
lined baking sheet. Continue rolling
and cutting out the disks. This dough
can be reworked and rolled out again.
Place a rounded teaspoon of filling
in the center of each disk. Brush the
edges with water. Now fold the edges
up and pinch together three corners
to make a triangle shape, with the fill-
ing visible in the center. You can start
with two sides, making an A shape,
and then fold in the third side to finish
the triangle. Repeat with all the dough
circles. Make sure to pinch the edges
well.
Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the
edges and bottoms of the hamantash-
en are golden brown. There is a ten-
dency to underbake these cookies. Go
for some color. It will give them a nice
toasty flavor. Makes 30 cookies.

POPPY SEED FILLING

1 cup poppy seeds
½ cup honey
2 tsp. granulated sugar
½ cup plus 2 Tbsp. heavy cream,
room temperature
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room tem-
perature
½ Tbsp. lemon zest
½ Tbsp. orange zest
¼ cup chopped flame raisins
Grind the poppy seeds in a coffee
grinder or food grinder as fine as you

can make them. The closer they are to
the consistency of flour, the better.
Put the poppy seeds, honey, sugar
and heavy cream in a saucepan and
cook over medium-high heat, stirring
occasionally, until the mixture comes
to a full boil. Turn the heat down to
medium-low and boil, stirring fre-
quently, until the mixture thickens
considerably, 6-8 minutes. Be careful
not to let it burn. When it is properly
thickened, it will look like hot boiling
mud.
Remove from the heat and add the
butter, lemon zest, orange zest and-
chopped raisins. Stir well. Let cool to
room temperature before using.
Makes enough for 30 hamantashen.

APRICOT FILLING

1½ cups apricot preserves
5 Tbsp. fresh bread crumbs
In a bowl, combine the apricot pre-
serves and bread crumbs.
Makes enough for 30 hamantashen.

CREAM CHEESE FILLING

1 cup cream cheese, room tempera-
ture
1½ tsp. unsalted butter, room tem-
perature
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ bean vanilla bean
½ extra-large egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
In a bowl, combine the cream
cheese, butter and sugar. Beat until
smooth. Split the half vanilla bean
down the center and scrape out the
seeds.
Add the half egg yolk with the vanil-
la extract and vanilla seeds and mix
until smooth. Store in the refrigerator
until ready for use.
Makes enough for 30 hamantashen.
A note on cream cheese: One of the
many perks of working in Zingerman’s
Community of Businesses, Emberling
writes, is having ready access to the
wonderful food its fellow businesses
make. Fresh cream cheese made by
Zingerman’s Creamery has been a
real ingredient upgrade for some of its
cream cheese needs.
What makes it different from the
grocery store cream cheese we’re all
familiar with? It’s made as fresh cream
cheese was made 100 years ago: very
simply. It’s milk, rennet, salt and
cream, and as with many breads, the
cream cheese benefits from patience
and time — the many hours neces-
sary to let it drain naturally. It’s free of
vegetable gums and preservatives that
are common components today.
“We use it in our cream cheese fill-
ing for hamantashen, and we eat it
with our bagels. This cream cheese
is available from Zingerman’s Mail
Order, zingermans.com. You may also
be able to find similar cream cheese
from artisan dairy producers near
you. Using this more flavorful cheese
will make a real difference.” •

REPRINTED FROM ZINGERMAN’S BAKEHOUSE BY AMY EMBERLING AND FRANK CAROLLO WITH PERMISSION BY CHRONICLE BOOKS, 2017

Royce Vavrek, Librettist

Macomb Center for the
Performing Arts
Sat. Mar. 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Sun. Mar. 11 at 2:30 p.m.

Travel back in time to the inspired
gatherings in Paris, where American
expatriates Gertrude Stein and Alice
B. Toklas hosted luminaries of art and
literature such as Pablo Picasso, F. Scott
Fitzgerald & Ernest Hemingway.

Tickets and info at MichiganOpera.org or 313.237.7464

2018 Spring Opera Season Sponsor

MELON
BANK

This project is supported
in part, by an award from:

000000

Small Shul

Big Seder

1 st Night Seder

Friday, March 30 at 6:30 p.m.

Experience the freedom of Passover
and enjoy a delicious meal
without the cooking and cleanup.
Dietary laws observed.

Seder led by
Rabbi Steven Rubenstein.
Special activities for the kids.

Advanced registration to 248-851-6880 by March 23 is required.

$50 per adult, $30 per child ages 4-12,
children 3 and under are free.
Register before March 16 and save $5 per person.

co-sponosored by:

Congregation Beth Ahm

Big enough to enrich you. Small enough to know you.

>LZ[4HWSL>LZ[)SVVTÄLSK40
‡ www.cbahm.org

jn

February 22 • 2018

51