American Jewish Foods—Or What Passes for Them: Hamantaschen

Appears in
Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America

By Andrew F. Smith

Published 2004

  • About
Hamantaschen are filled triangular-shaped cookies eaten at Purim, a holiday that usually falls towards the end of the winter and that celebrates the Jews’ salvation from the clutches of an evil Persian minister. The cookies, made with either yeast-based or butter-based dough, are often filled with sweet fruits, poppy seeds, or nuts.