Getting ready for Purim:

from the classic flavors to the surprising and addictive fillings. In preparation for Purim, we tasted hamantashen from the best confectioneries - and that's what we thought.

 Mimi (photo credit: (Photo: Daniel Lila))
Mimi
(photo credit: (Photo: Daniel Lila))

Roladin

This year the chain offers Hamantashs made of crispy dough, and does not forget the vegans either. You can find fillings of chocolate, poppy, dates and nuts, nuts in caramel toffee, and next to them the Hamantashs are coated with a combination of bianco nochola chocolate and hazelnuts. Vegans have a vegan Hamantash combined with banana, lotus cream and caramel cookie crumble.

We tasted and thought: there is nothing to expand on Roladin's classic version of Hamantashen. They are tasty, crunchy and compact in size with lots of goodness. The surprises for us are the Hamantashs covered in divine bianco chocolate with hazelnuts, and lotus banana marzipan (vegan), which you simply cannot stop eating. For those who don't have enough, there is also the Hamantash in the exaggerated version - brownies nochola bianco in XL size, which is like a meal in itself.

Price: NIS 14 per 100 gramsCoated - NIS 6 per unitBrownies Nochola Bianco XL - NIS 18Score: 9.5

 Roladin   (credit: Ronen Mangen)
Roladin (credit: Ronen Mangen)

bread bakery

A bread bakery offers a holiday edition with sweet and salty haman ears, portion deliveries and a cool kit for home baking of haman ears.

We tasted and thought: like every year Uri Sheft excites us with the butter dough and crunchy almonds, which is a perfect base for the delicate fillings. Also this year you can see the cult fillings in the "breads": Napoleon's hat (marzipan), poppy seeds, brownies and dates with nuts. Alongside them there are also salted Hamantashs with potatoes with fried onions or caramelized sweet potatoes, feta cheese and walnuts, which you simply cannot stop eating.

Price: NIS 18.90-15.30 per 100 grams

Score: 9.5

 Bread bakery (credit: Oriya Geva)
Bread bakery (credit: Oriya Geva)

Biscotti's confectionery

Biscotti's Hamantashs collection includes a variety of new fillings and cheerful colors this year. Next to it you can find "Galette de Rois" - a classic French cake with two layers of puff pastry filled with frangipane cream and poppy seed cream.

We tasted and thought: the dough is nothing less than perfect, buttery, just melts in the mouth, light and fun. In terms of the fillings, this year we went for a cornflakes filling with milk, which has a refined taste but crackles in the mouth.

The classics - Belgian chocolate and citrus poppy - are excellent. We were very surprised by the marmalade and white chocolate which gave an interesting play of flavors.

Price: NIS 44 for a case of 300-280 grams

Score: 9

 Biscotti (credit: PR)
Biscotti (credit: PR)

Shemo Confectionery  

"Shemo Confectionery" offers a collection of Hamantashs with different fillings and doughs (crispy dough with or without sugar, and yeast dough), and other sweet pastries.

We tasted it and thought: if there's something we wait for all year, it's the Hamantashen from the yeast dough of his name, and this time we weren't disappointed either. This year they come in excellent fillings of poppy seeds, ricotta and raisins or nuts. The crunchy Hamantashen are also great, the right size and rich in classic and comforting fillings.

Price: 6 shekels per ear. from yeast dough: NIS 42 for a case of crispy Hamantashs

Score: 9

 Purim collection Miki Shmo (credit: (Photo: Daniel Lila))
Purim collection Miki Shmo (credit: (Photo: Daniel Lila))

MIMI

As every year at "Mimi" they bring out two versions of crispy Hamantashs, one made from extra crispy dough and the other from gluten free crispy dough. We tasted and thought: both versions had a classic poppy filling rich in butter with a little citrus. Equally classic was the chocolate filling, which is excessively rich, of mouth-watering milk chocolate ganache.

The dough is not thick and coarse but thin-medium and gives respect to the filling, but still remains noticeable and fun and especially crunchy. It's impossible not to give a thumbs up to the gluten-free version as well, which was delicious and crunchy.

Price: NIS 42 for a case of 9 units

Score: 9

 Mimi (credit: (Photo: Daniel Lila))
Mimi (credit: (Photo: Daniel Lila))

Boutique Central

The Boutique Central chain is back with its iconic Haman ears made of butter dough in the three classic flavors: chocolate, poppy and nuts and dates (vegan, based on almond butter).

We tasted and thought: we tasted the Manstradam - a huge Hamantash which is actually an Amsterdam cookie made of fudgey chocolate dough with creamy and rich white chocolate praline. As we expected, this is a gloss that managed to make us forget that this is the Haman ear. The dough is great, soft to the extent that the filling blends into it harmoniously.

Price: NIS 3 per unit, NIS 14 for Hammanstadum.

Score: 8.5

 Boutique Central  (credit: TAL SIVAN-ZIPORIN)
Boutique Central (credit: TAL SIVAN-ZIPORIN)

Confectionery Shani

Confectionery Shani offers this year a collection of relatively small Hamantashs filled with Belgian chocolate soufflé, cheese chocolate soufflé, crumbled cheese, Yaldodes chocolate, poppy seeds, almonds, nuts, dates and more.

We tasted and thought: the Hamantashen are small, but not too much. They are made of thin and crispy butter dough. The fillings are generous and great. We became addicted to the crumbly cheese filling that was simply a delight in the mouth. No less good than it was a cheese chocolate soufflé that combined the best of both worlds.

Price: NIS 49-46 for a case of about 350 grams

Score: 8.5

 Confectionery Shani  (credit: Yifat Cohen)
Confectionery Shani (credit: Yifat Cohen)

Ma'afe Ne'eman Bakery

Ma'afe Ne'eman Bakery offers handmade Hamantashs, with classic fillings such as poppy, dates and chocolate, alongside new fillings such as time out, Oreo, red velvet and lotus.

We tasted and thought: the dough is surprisingly good, not too thick and not too thin. The fillings are good and not too sweet, generous but not overwhelming. Classics.

Price: NIS 38 per case

Score: 8

 Ma'afe Ne'eman bakery (credit: GIL AVIRAM)
Ma'afe Ne'eman bakery (credit: GIL AVIRAM)