A survey of the capital’s hamentashen ahead of Purim turns up much disappointment
By AMY SPIRORoladin's hamentashens.(photo credit: AMY SPIRO)
For a one-day holiday, Purim has many different aspects: from dressing up in costume to hearing the Megilla, getting rip-roaring drunk to having a festive meal with family and friends – and much more. But when it comes to traditional Purim foods, only one need apply – the hamentashen.The three-cornered cookie is pretty much the only classic treat associated with the day, but if you ask me, it could do with a little competition. Though there’s nothing inherently wrong with a cookie filled with chocolate or fruit (poppy is another story entirely), most bakeries produce dry, crumbly doughs with tasteless, uninspiring fillings.But for you, dear readers – and for my third-annual hamentashen tasting in Jerusalem – I rounded up my trusted taste-testers and ventured out to find the best of the worst.Because hamentashen don’t engender as much excitement as doughnuts do around Hanukka time, a fair number of bakeries didn’t have their offerings available in time to be featured in this article. So if your favorite spot isn’t mentioned here, it might be worth going to check things out closer to Purim itself.HIGHLY RECOMMENDEDRoladinAs in years past, Roladin takes the cake (pun intended) of hamentashen in Jerusalem, pretty much for one good reason: butter. Unlike most store’s margarine-laden offerings, Roladin’s dough was described as “flaky,” “buttery,” “crisp” and “not too sweet.” The chain bakery is also one of the few places to get inventive with its fillings, with offerings including caramelized walnuts, apple pie, masala date, chocolate, chocolate coconut, and poppy. The apple filling was delicious, with real chunks of apples, and the chocolate was described as “outstanding,” although some found it too sweet, and one even thought the taste of butter was too strong. Of course, all this deliciousness comes with a price tag – they’re the most expensive hamentashen to be found.NIS 99 per kiloHadar Mall, Malha Mall, Mamilla Mall, 101 Derech Hebron and 12 Hillel Street RECOMMENDEDBerman Berman was the only bakery that came close to the buttery taste and texture of Roladin. Oddly enough, they all come sealed at the top, so you don’t get to see a hint of the filling. This makes many people nervous, particularly those afraid of being “poppied.”Nevertheless, the dough was crisp and not too sweet, with a lightly buttery taste. Fellow tasters praised them for having “plentiful filling,” “crisp pastry” and “balanced tastes.”They also receive the “most improved” award from two years ago, when I ranked them as worst in the city. Flavors include poppy, chocolate, halva and date.NIS 49.90 per kilo 51Derech Beit Lehem, 24 Beit Hadfus Street and 42 Agrippas StreetThe Natural Choice BakeryThis somewhat niche bakery may seem like an unconventional choice to spotlight here, but I’ve been consistently impressed with its baked goods over the years, and the hamentashen were no exception. The dough had a nice texture and flavor, and didn’t taste “healthy.” The chocolate filling had a good texture, though it was a bit too sweet. Fellow tasters praised the generous fillings and “crispy, sweet and very tasty” offerings, and one thought the nut-filled version “tasted kind of like coffee cake.”Varieties include chocolate, nut, date poppy and halva.NIS 58-73 per kilo111 Agrippas StreetBrooklyn Bakery I’ve long been impressed by Brooklyn Bakery’s quality and innovative offerings. While its hamentashen were certainly better than most, they weren’t as great as some of its other delicacies (don’t miss the cinnamon roll). I do appreciate its wide variety of fillings, which include apricot, date, prune, cranberry, chocolate and poppy. While the dough has a nice texture, soft but not too crumbly, it has a bit of a bland flavor. But that’s mostly made up for with the fillings, particularly the cranberry and apricot – which are jam-packed with flavor (once again, pun intended). The chocolate filling is also rich and chocolatey, though a bit lacking in sweetness. The fruit flavors had tasters “pleasantly surprised” with its “not too sweet, flavorful filling,” though one said it “reminds me of Hebrew school” (not a compliment). One sampler expressed it best by saying the dough wasn’t too exciting, but the cookie and filling “went well together.”NIS 65 per kilo 15Mea She’arim StreetRECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONSHalehem Shel TomerWhile the offerings at this boutique bakery are dairy, they didn’t have any of the light, buttery taste of their competition. In fact, some tasters found them “too hard to bite” and “crunchy.”Personally, I enjoyed the whole-wheat dough, though it was a bit dry. While I felt the chocolate filling was a bit too sweet and had a somewhat crumbly texture, others thought it was bitter. Other types for sale include cinnamon-date and poppy, though they are only sold by the container, and they’re not cheap.NIS 38 for a container of about a dozen 22Halamed Heh Street, 30 Aza Road and 9 Leib Yaffe StreetMarzipan Best-known for its famed chocolate rugelach, Marzipan sells a wide variety of cookies and, when it is the season, hamentashen. It sells them only by the container, but has a considerably varied number of options, including halva, poppy, nuts, dates, chocolate, apricot and vanilla chocolate chip.Because they’re not sold individually, I couldn’t try every flavor, but the dough is crisp with a nice flavor and balance of sweetness. Unfortunately, the chocolate filling is extremely jarred-chocolatespread tasting, and “chocolate spread” is even listed as an ingredient on the label some thought the chocolate was “too fudgy and too sweet,” while others liked its intensity and sweetness.NIS 17 for a container of about 1844 Agrippas Street and 5 Rahel Imenu StreetNechama All I can say about Nechama’s hamentashen is that they were solidly middling. Certainly not the worst, certainly not the best, with some redeeming qualities.The dough is, like so many, a bit too dry and crumbly, with one tester describing it as “chalky” and another calling it “decent but crunchy.” They fared a bit better with its fillings, with the halva smooth and sweet, and the chocolate not amazing but with a distinct cocoa flavor. It also has date, poppy and a chocolate dough-halva filling offering. They’re the cheapest around, so they get my vote for budget buy.NIS 38 per kilo 31 Kanfei Nesharim Street, 3 Zonenfeld Street, 5 Yehezkel Street and 5 Tzeret Street English CakeOne common problem plaguing hamentashen is the filling-to-cookie ratio, and English Cake really suffered in that department. The dough was particularly dry, enough to really dry out my mouth, and the chocolate filling tasted straight out of a jar of store-bought chocolate spread. Others seemed to like the dough’s texture, and the date filling was more popular with some tasters. Rounding out its offerings are halva, poppy and nuts.NIS 65 per kiloEight locations in Jerusalem NOT RECOMMENDEDPe’erNot to sound like a broken record, but the hamentashen at Pe’er were – you guessed it – dry, dry, dry. There was very minimal filling, and the chocolate was too sweet and had no real chocolate flavor. The date, poppy and halva varieties were not much better.NIS 40 per kilo5 Hamagid Street and 33 Etz Haim Street (in Mahaneh Yehuda)Ne’emanI didn’t have high hopes for Ne’eman, as I’ve never been too impressed with the vast majority of their baked goods. My suspicions were proven true – as they offered some of the worst hamentashen I’ve encountered. With uninspired flavors and throatchokingly dry dough, I can’t recommend these to anyone. Others called them “super dry,” “not exciting,” with “too much dough.” Offerings when I stopped in were chocolate, date and poppy.NIS 69 per kiloA dozen locations in JerusalemPrefer to make hamentashen at home instead? (Can’t blame you.) Check out my blog at www.bakingandmistaking.com for recipes of all kinds.
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