Poppy Seed Filling for Cookies and Pastries

This poppy seed filling can be used for cookies like hamantaschen, kolaches, strudel, coffee cakes and more. The natural bitterness of the poppy seeds mellows when ground and cooked with butter, milk, sugar, and honey. Tempered egg and cooking over gentle heat slowly thickens the filling. The result is a rich, delightful filling that won’t run out of baked goods as they cook.

Tori's Stories

During the Jewish holiday of Purim, poppy seed hamantaschen are a popular treat. The most traditional filling for hamantaschen cookies is poppy seed (known in Yiddish as mohn). Some people believe this tradition finds its roots in a pun. In Yiddish, Hamantaschen literally translates to “Haman’s pockets.” A slight variation of the word, ha-mohn-taschen, literally translates to “the poppy seed pockets.”

Whatever the reason, poppy seed is the most popular of all hamantachen fillings. This is my favorite recipe for poppy seed filling. I have also used it to make kolaches and coffee cakes with great results.

Some people purchase Solo canned filling to make their poppy seed baked goods. This homemade filling is comparable in terms of texture, with all the goodness of homemade.

To make this filling parve (dairy free), I’ve recommended some specific substitutes below. I really like this filling better using dairy, but you can get a descent parve result using the recommended substitutions.

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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Poppy Seed Filling for Cookies, Pastries and Hamantaschen

Scrumptious recipe for mohn - poppy seed filling. Can be used to fill hamantaschen, cookies, pastries, kolaches and more. Thick, rich filling. Kosher.

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Prep Time 5 mins

Cook Time 10 mins

Total Time 15 mins

Course Dessert

Kosher Key Dairy or Parve

Adjust Total Servings     32 servings

Ingredients

• 8 oz whole unground poppy seeds (1 1/2 cups)
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter (see cooking instructions for parve subs)
• 1 cup milk (see cooking instructions for parve subs)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs, beaten

Notes

For the butter sub, I don't like to use margarine very often, but in this case I'd recommend Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks. They have no hydrogenated fat, and in small amounts they make a passable substitute for butter. They do have salt, so I would recommend cutting the 1/4 tsp of salt in the recipe if using this product. If you are comfortable using unsalted margarine, feel free.

Instructions

 

• Grind the poppy seeds in a coffee grinder in batches for about 15-20 seconds per batch, until they are ground soft and powdery.
  
• Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the milk, sugar, honey and salt (read the salt note in the notes section of this recipe before adding). Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, till the sugar dissolves and the honey melts.
  
• Pour about 1 cup of the hot liquid into a cup.
  
  
• Immediately but gradually being drizzling the hot liquid into the beaten eggs. Whisk briskly and constantly till all of the hot liquid is integrated into the eggs. Do not pour too quickly, or you'll scramble your eggs. It should take about a minute to drizzle all of the liquid.

  Slowly pour the heated, tempered egg mixture back into the hot liquid in the saucepan, whisking constantly.
  
• Continue to whisk and cook for 3-5 more minutes over medium heat till the mixture thickens and turns light yellow. It is ready when it thickly coats the back of a spoon.
  
  
• Remove the saucepan from heat. Whisk the ground poppy seeds into the buttery liquid and stir well to blend all ingredients.
  
  
• Allow filling to cool to room temperature before using. Store in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
  
  
• To make this filling parve (dairy free), you will need to use a substitute for the milk and the butter. For the milk, I like SoDelicious coconut creamer, which gives it a creamy, very faint coconut taste (vegan, but produced on dairy equipment for those who are strictly kosher). You can also use regular coconut milk, rice milk, almond milk or soy milk as a sub.
  

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Poppy Seed Filling for Cookies, Pastries and Hamantaschen

Amount Per Serving

Calories 86 Calories from Fat 45

% Daily Value*

Fat 5g8%

Saturated Fat 1g6%

Cholesterol 18mg6%

Sodium 29mg1%

Potassium 67mg2%

Carbohydrates 9g3%

Fiber 1g4%

Sugar 7g8%

Protein 2g4%

Vitamin A 76IU2%

Vitamin C 1mg1%

Calcium 113mg11%

Iron 1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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4.7 from 24 votes

Nutritional information should be considered an estimate only; please consult a registered dietician, nutritionist, or your physician for specific health-related questions. Read more here. Please note that the recipe above is published using a recipe card plugin, with preexisting software which can auto-calculate metric measurements, as well as change the number of servings. Metric conversions and changes to the number of servings (resulting in different ingredient amounts) will only appear in the ingredient list, and are not changed within the step-by-step directions of the recipe.