Raspberry Hamantaschen

Purim is coming soon so it was the perfect excuse to make Raspberry Hamantaschen, one of my favorite cookies.  I love this shortbread cookie filled with the sweet and tart jam.  I used Sarabeth Levine's recipe for mandelbrot for the cookie and homemade raspberry jam for the filling but you can use store bought. 

Shaping the cookies in to the traditional triangles couldn't be simpler.  I cut circles out of the dough using a 3-inch cutter and filled each with one teaspoon of the jam.  Then just pinched three sides together to form the triangle shape.  Happy Purim!

Mandelbrot

I'm a fan of anything that isn't too sweet and these yummy Mandelbrot fit the bill.  These Jewish cookies are the perfect snack and a great accompaniment to a cup of coffee or tea.  If you haven't heard of mandelbrot before they are very similar to Italian biscotti, except they're less likely to break your teeth!  

I found the recipe for these cookies on the blog, Goddess of Bakedom, from Sarabeth Levine.  She of her namesake jams, preserves and East Coast restaurants.   The literal translation of mandelbrot is "almond bread", but Sarabeth's version doesn't contain any nuts at all.   Rather, she fills her cookies with jam, which I think is a fantastic interpretation.  The dough can also be used to make another favorite Jewish cookie of mine, hamantaschen.  

I think my sugar-fearing relatives will definitely like these cookies.  They're going to be added to the list of holiday cookies I'm making this year.