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A hamantash (: hamantashen; also spelled hamantasch, hamantaschen; homentash, : המן־טאַשן homentashn, 'Haman pockets') is an Ashkenazi Jewish triangular filled-pocket pastry associated with the Jewish holiday of Purim. The name refers to Haman, the villain in the Purim story. In Hebrew, hamantashen are also known as אוזני המן ( oznei Haman), meaning "Haman's ears". "Haman's ears" also refers to a Sephardic Purim pastry, "Orejas de Haman", thought to originate in Spain and Italy, that is made by frying twisted or rolled strips of dough.
Traditionally, the dough for hamantashen was made with yeast. With the invention of baking powder during the 1840s and its wide adoption during the first half of the twentieth century, baking powder supplanted yeast, and hamantashen dough became a cookie rather than pastry dough. To shape a hamantash, a filling is placed in the center of a circle of dough, which is then either folded in half and shaped into a triangle or the sides are brought to the center to form a triangle. The oldest and most traditional filling is mohn (poppy seed paste), with powidl or lekvar (prune jam) a close second. The cookie dough variety has spawned many different fillings, traditionally sweet. Most popular are various jams, especially apricot and raspberry, but also date, raisins, apple, vanilla pastry cream with chocolate chips, cherry, Common fig, chocolate, dulce de leche, halva, caramel, or cheese. The dough varies from hard like shortbread to a soft yeast dough.
Hamantash is also spelled hamentasch, homentash, homentasch, homentaschan, or even (h)umentash. The name hamantash is commonly viewed as a reference to Haman, the villain of Purim, as described in the Book of Esther. The pastries are supposed to symbolize the defeated enemy of the Jewish people. The word tash means "pouch" or "pocket" in Yiddish, and thus may refer to Haman's pockets, symbolizing the money that Haman offered to Ahasuerus in exchange for permission to destroy the Jews. In Hebrew, tash means "weaken", and the hamantash may celebrate the weakening of Haman and the hope that God will weaken all of the enemies of the Jews.
Another possible source of the name is a folk etymology: the Yiddish word מאָן־טאַשן ( montashn) for a traditional delicacy, literally meaning "poppyseed pouch", was transformed to hamantashen, likely by association with Haman or inclusion of the Hebrew article (ה). In Israel, hamantashen are called oznei Haman (), Hebrew language for "Haman's ears" in reference to their defeated enemy's ears, although "Haman's ears" also refers to a Sephardic Purim pastry that is twisted or rolled and fried.
The reason for the three-sided shape is uncertain. There is a 20th-century legend that Haman wore a three-cornered hat. Alternatively, the Midrash says that when Haman recognized the merit of the Three Patriarchs, his strength immediately weakened.
A simpler explanation is that the shape derives from traditional Jewish baking techniques in Central Europe for folding dough so as to form a pouch around a filling, also common for making dumplings. It has also been suggested that the shape is representative of female reproductive organs, and that the poppy-seed filling is a fertility symbol.
Brandeis wrote a scroll which he called Shir HaMa'alot l'David ("A Song of Ascents to David"), to be read on 10 Adar, accompanied by a festive meal. He was freed from prison four days before Purim after the charges against him were proven to be false, and in celebration of his release, Jews from his city celebrated with povidl or plum hamantashen.
The dough is allowed to rest in the refrigerator and then is removed and rolled out to a thickness of between . Rounds of dough are stamped out and often brushed with an egg wash to encourage sealing prior to the addition of the filling (or the finished hamentash is brushed with egg wash before baking to produce a shiny golden surface). The most popular filling is poppyseed, but apricot, prune, strawberry, raspberry, chocolate, peanut butter and jelly, and others are also common. The bottom and the top two corners of the dough are folded inward but do not fully enclose the filling, allowing it to remain visible. Sometimes hamantashen may be frozen for a short period of time after shaping in order to prevent leakage of the filling. Then they are baked in an oven at medium heat for a short time. Sometimes after baking hamantashen may be dusted with powdered sugar, dipped in melted chocolate, or topped with sprinkles.
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