Sweet dough hamantaschen (family recipe from Vera Yakubson)
For Vera, her Jewish identity was built primarily around food (editor’s note: we weren’t surprised at all!). The family’s traditional table included Hamantaschen made from soft, rich dough, which turned out to be quite unusual after moving to Israel, where they are almost always made with shortcrust pastry.
Our family is not religious, and my entire Jewish identity was mainly formed around Jewish holidays and the food associated with them: gefilte fish, vorschmack, matzo, latkes, and, of course, hamantashen for Purim. My grandmother baked them, and then my aunt.
Moving to Israel made me rethink many things, but I didn’t expect it to affect Jewish cuisine. It turned out that in Israel, Oznei Haman is shortbread. Since childhood, I have known that Purim has triangular soft pies with poppy seeds. And I absolutely insist that this version is much tastier than the cookie version.
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