Scroll down below to find the Irish Soda Muffins…

Hamantashen

Hamantashen, the classic Purim cookies, are eagerly awaited by everyone young and old. They are versatile and can be made from a good sweet yeast dough, flaky dough or from a traditional cookie dough. The fillings can be mixed and matched. Prune butter and poppy seed are traditional but one can use any kind of jam or preserves.

A traditional cookie and treat, this one is adapted from a recipe found on the Chabad.org website for the Purim holiday and is sure to please.

Experiment with a variety of sweet and savory fillings, and get creative using fillings of cream cheese, Nutella, fruit or nuts and finished off with a drizzle of chocolate ganache or a white glaze, making it fancy!

My favorite filling is the apricot jam sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Yields: 20 large cookies

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup oil
• juice of one lemon
• rind of 1 lemon, grated
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 5 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 pound prepared poppy seed filling or, 1 pound lekvar (apple or prune butter) or 1 pound strawberry or apricot preserves

Directions

1. Beat eggs and sugar.
2. Add remaining ingredients, and mix well.
3. Divide into four parts, wrap in plastic, letting dough rest & chill for 15 minutes to 1 hour.
4. Roll out the dough, one part at a time, to about 1/8″ thick.
5. Using a 3″ round cookie cutter, cut the base for the hamantashen.
6. Add 1tsp of your favorite filling to the center of a base.
7. Fold up the sides of the base to make 3 points, pinching to seal.
8. Place on a greased cookie sheet with room between each.
9. Bake at 350° F (185° C) for 8 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Dust with a light coating of powdered sugar or drizzle with chocolate.
Serve and enjoy!

IRISH SODA MUFFINS

Each year on St. Patrick’s day I try some classic Irish recipes and desserts, tweaking them for our dietary restrictions. Below is a delicious twist on classic Irish Soda bread I found at The Gingham Apron.  These Irish Soda Muffins will make a perfect combination with any stew or corned beef & cabbage type meals you happen to make this year during your St. Paddy’s holiday…eaten with stew or jam, it’s sure to be delicious!

Yields: 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 2 cups All purpose Flour
• 3 Tbs Sugar
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ cup salted butter, chilled
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 large egg, beaten

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray muffin tin with nonstick spray.
2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
3. With a pastry blender, blend butter into dry mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.
4. In another bowl, mix together buttermilk and eggs until blended.
5. Combine buttermilk mixture and dry ingredients and stir to combine.
6. Spoon batter into muffin cups
7. Bake approximately 18-22 minutes or until tester in center comes out clean. Do not over bake.
8. Remove from oven and allow to cool 5 minutes before removing from tins.