Purim 2023: The search for Israel's best hamantashen

The donuts that pop up before Hanukkah in many pastry shops across the country have already reached the peak of their glory both in terms of visibility and in terms of fillings. But for this year's Purim, one can ask: are hamentashen also on a similar culinary direction?

Just before Purim, we decided to forget about the standard of poppy, dates and chocolate and went looking for special and original hamentashen.

Something you eat on the road 

"I think that hamentashen are still portrayed as something low, something that you put on the road in a bag for delivering meals to school, as opposed to donuts that are packed in luxury boxes," said Aya Tamam, owner of the Art of Desserts brand, which specializes in designed and branded desserts. "Hamentashens are still branded lower than donuts, but we definitely recognize the trend that people are starting to look for unique hamentashen as well.

"There is much less room to work with hamentashen because we are only limited to crispy dough cookies, whereas with donuts you could add many toppings such as whipped cream," Tamam continued.

Tamam, who owns a factory in Ra'anana where she bakes and prepares a variety of desserts, has been engaged in the field for 17 years. She charges about 7 NIS per hamentashen for the basic-colored ones and 9 NIS for the chocolate-coated ones.

Tamam states that her clients are "mainly companies, but also private individuals."

A different pastry chef collaborates with Mars, Inc.

Pastry chef Dudu Otmazgin has collaborated with Mars, Incorporated, which has been operating around the world for over 100 years and has leading brands such as M&M's, Snickers, Twix and more.

As part of the collaboration, the unique limited edition box of hamentashen-M&M's was launched. The box will be sold in Otmazgin's 15 branches throughout the country, and will also include delivery. 

"First of all, I was flattered that they contacted [me]. I immediately knew what I was going to do so that it would speak the same language that they wanted to send to people," Otmazgin said.

Although these Otmazgin hamentashen collaborations are definitely "out of the box," he admits that "people are still used to the classic-looking hamentashen, filled with poppy seeds, nuts and chocolate. People still love the classics, the classics always win, but you live off the variety."

Munier Catering for all your Purim needs 

"We are not a mass pastry shop that sells its hamentashen in every store, so from the beginning, we only went for the specials," says Raphael Targan, owner and CEO of Munier Catering. "It starts with their size, which is half of the standard size. You can enjoy it in one bite and take in several flavors and not just choke on one flavor. Our dough is also very thin and crispy. Normally, hamentashen doughs are thicker, there is more dough than filling. With us, it's the opposite."

In terms of filling, Munier Catering provides a variety of both sweet and salty. Along with hamentashen in unique flavors such as lemon, lotus-salted pretzel, chocolate fudge, raspberry, pistachio and Oreo, you can diversify your flavor palate with two savory flavors: sweet potato and eggplant, which are served alongside various dips which complement the flavors.

"For us, it's not just a dry bite - there's also a dip," said Targan. "Four to five months in advance, we work on the development of the hamentashen. The flavors are decided on both by the atmosphere of the market - trends - and also just where the soul is a little bit attracted. We try 20-30 flavors, do tastings, and keep the most successful ones."

"We are also thinking about a variety [of hamentashen] for the whole family. For example- oreo filling for children and chocolate fudge for adults. People start consuming hamentashen two to three before Purim. As it happens, we are considering a broader Purim concept, such as special dishes that 'dress up.' A sweet hamburger, a salty eclair, and more."

Banana-filled goodness at Roladin

In addition to the classic flavors, this year Purim at the Roladin bakery chain is seeing new flavors, including pecan (crispy almond dough filled with banana, toffee and pecans in a caramel crust), pistachio (the same almond dough, filled with pistachio praline in a cocoa crust) and dark coconut. These will cost 6 NIS per cookie.

"I think that the special hamentashen are very much in demand for nice mishloah manot (Purim gift baskets). It started as a sort of demand," explained Noa Bachar Aharoni, CEO of Roladin. "The hamentashen with the traditional fillings and crispy dough are very popular. We start selling them two or three months before the holiday and we see that instead of eating croissants, people heat hamentashen as a breakfast pastry.

"But as the holiday approaches, there is a desire to enrich the mishloah manot and from there, as mentioned, the whole idea began to upgrade and make very special flavors...as well as special packaging. Many years ago, we started with the special flavors, and it's only getting better and better. Many people treat hamentashen like pralines."

"Roladin is very focused on holidays," continued Bachar Aharoni. "We work on hamentashen far in advance - we decided on [all the details] back in November. Of course, we do tastings...We take into account the chef's ideas and trends."

Without causing offense to the fancy hamentashen, Bachar Aharoni says that in the end "just the classic jelly donut makes amazing sales, so too do the [traditional] hamentashen. Despite all of the innovations, the best-sellers are still the traditional ones.