Prunes may not seem like a romantic ingredient, however they are magical in the center of a freshly baked cookie. I use this recipe for lekvar (plum butter) as a filling for cookies, pastries, hamantaschen, kolaches, pierogis, strudel and more. The prunes are slowly simmered with aromatic ingredients and brown sugar to create a thick, luscious concoction. This plum butter can be used as a filling for baked goods, or as a spreadable sweet treat on toast or crackers. In addition, it’s nice and thick, which means it won’t run while it bakes.
This prune filling includes orange juice and zest. It will make your kitchen smell amazing as it simmers. Brown sugar adds depth and helps the filling to hold up better during baking. It also extends the shelf life of the lekvar.
I use plum butter (lekvar) for filling cookies like hamantaschen. It can be used for filling other cookies and pastries, including sweet pierogi dumplings, kolaches, and strudel. Or, serve it as a simple jam on toast or crackers. Try it on a toasted piece of French bread topped with a mild, nutty cheese– the flavor combination is heavenly.
Need a delicious and foolproof hamantaschen dough recipe? For my Dairy Free Hamantaschen dough, click here. For my Buttery Hamantaschen dough, click here.
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Lekvar Plum Butter - Prune Filling for Hamantaschen
Ingredients
- 2 cups pitted prunes
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
Instructions
- Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan except for the brown sugar. Stir and bring to a boil for one minute.
- Reduce heat to medium low so the mixture simmers slowly and constantly. Cover the pot. Let the mixture simmer covered for 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes.Remove the lid from the pan. Let the prunes continue to simmer for 3-5 more minutes, stirring frequently, until most of the liquid has evaporated/absorbed. Keep a close eye on the pan to make sure the prunes don't burn. When there are about 3 tbsp of liquid left in the pan, remove from heat.
- Stir the brown sugar into the prune mixture till brown sugar melts and dissolves.
- Mash the prune mixture with a potato masher till a smooth puree forms. Run a fork through the mixture to break up any pieces the potato masher missed. You can also use an immersion blender for a smoother puree, if you want to.
- Let cool to room temperature before using. Store in a sealed, airtight container in the refrigerator. Refrigerating the filling to chill completely will make it easier to work with when filling hamantaschen.
Nutrition
So good! It was a big hit this year.
Hello! Thank you for sharing these delicious-looking recipes with us.
Do you think it would work if I substituted dates for prunes? Obviously they tend to be a bit sweeter on their own, so perhaps one should cut back on the sugar…?
Hi Angharad – prunes have more moisture than dates, so you might need to add more liquid to the mixture to get the proper consistency. And yes, dates are much sweeter than prunes, so you would need to take that into account. Sorry I can’t give you more details without testing it myself. Good luck!
Hi Tori,
How similar is the taste to that you’d get in bakery hamantaschen? I ask because I have never liked the commercial prune filling at bakeries, since my grandmother’s prune hamantashen tasted very different and I think it was likely due to a higher amount of lemon or orange. She actually used the same dough, from what I understand, for her sugar cookies, mandel bread and hamantashen, but the other thing she did was make her prune ones look like knishes, not triangles. I’ve never had another that tasted like hers and I’d love to figure out what made them so good. She was such a simple baker, so I know it’s likely something as simple as orange juice/zest, as she even used that to flavor her dough.
I cook my prune filling with slices of a whole lemon including the rind. Then I squeeze out all the juice before discarding the rind and using the food processor to get the right texture. It makes a sweet and sour filling lie my Bobe’s tasted like. Delicious and easy.
I added Chinese 5 spice powder. Very nice.
Excited to try this! Do you think this recipe would be suitable for canning?
thanks for the recipe – i’ve only ever bought it before!
Made this on Sunday and it was great!
Hi!
Your prune filling for the hamantaschen sounds yummy. I do not have a potato masher. Can I use a fork or a food processor?
Hi Marcia, a fork will probably work (with a little more elbow grease)– if you find that it’s not smooth enough feel free to use a food processor.
What might i substitute for the brown sugar for my diabetic father?
These cookies will already have a high carbohydrate content simply because of the starch in flour and the concentrated sugar in dried fruit, so the 1/3 cup of brown sugar will not make that much difference in the total carbohydrate content of each cookie. However, if you are concerned, you might try Splenda Brown which is half brown sugar and half Splenda. I wouldn’t leave out the brown sugar entirely and replace with regular Splenda because that will change the consistency and texture of the filling. The real key to maintaining good blood sugar levels is portion control. 1 or 2 cookies would be OK as part of a balanced diet. The major downfall of sugar free cookies is that often the person with diabetes assumes that since the cookie is sugar free, more can be eaten. Remember that sugar free does not mean carbohydrate free. Replacing all the sugar with an artificial sweetener also means that there will be proportionally more flour and fat in each cookie. Oleta Powell, RN, Certified Diabetes Educator
Tori – THANK YOU!! I absolutely love prune hamantaschen, homemade or store bought, and will gladly make them all year round. I made aliya a couple of years ago and it seems like Israel has not heard of lekvar (forget buying prune hamantaschen at a bakery, only one bakery in Meah Shearim and only the week before Purim…).
I begged a few people to bring me the jarred stuff but it’s not really practical to rely on. Then i found your recipe. AMAZING! Now i can go back to getting funny looks all year from eating prune hamantaschen whenever I please 🙂 And my family agrees – it’s also a great toast topping. Thank you!
Glad you like it as much as I do Miriam! 🙂 Funny, I thought it would be more common in Israel…
First and foremost let it be known that I am NOT a vocational baker. Every once in a while I get the urge…(and afterwards go quite a while till it strikes again ;-)) Recipe looks good, it’s Purim, while i am not a practicing Jew, I am from New York and miss celebrating lots of things, any way I am running on here…) I made hamentaschen with lekvar and the are divine! Filling was easy, I sweated with the dough, but that’s over and the results, for me, are spectacular. I’d send a pix but they are not nearly as pretty as yours, but a big thank you for making it so clear! Mazel tov
Fabulous Carlin!
Thanks for the recipe! I couldn’t find any prune filling this year either, so I made yours!
Hi Tory,
I’ve been making my mother’s hamentaschen recipe for 30 years andit’s loved by everyone. This year I couldn’t find the jarred lekvar (ok, even as a professional chef I can be lazy) so while in the store I Googled your recipe. Took me 20 minutes and it came out perfect. I doubled the recipe, used half OJ and half lemon juice for tartness, and chopped and added 3/4 cup of walnuts. If I knew how, I’d paste a photo. Thanks a lot!
Love the idea of adding walnuts Isser!
Wonderful recipe. I can’t find lekvar in the store so I used your recipe to make my own. It’s much better. The cookies were delicious. Thanks.
You’re welcome Jamie!
Looks Interesting.
I made this but did not mash it up and I used it as a topping on Greek yogurt. Awesome! Thanks for an other amaaaaaaazing recipe 🙂
Great idea Tracy! 🙂
Thanks for the photos for prune filling etc…..yum! just looking for fillings for our hamantaschen and reminding myself how to fold these things up. BOBBI
Can I substitute the sugar with honey? If so, How much do you think?
I’m wondering how long this will last in the fridge for?
Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Deborah, this should last for a few weeks in the fridge. It may dry out a bit over time, but you can reconstitute with water if you need to. Enjoy!
Hi Tory, just wanted to let you know you were right–my kids loved the prunes, had no idea what prunes were, but ate these right up. They were great! Thank you for such great recipes – Joan.