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.
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
Ingredients
- 8 ounces whole unground poppy seeds
- 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 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs, beaten
NOTES
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
tried this recipe?
Let us know in the comments!
Cathy says
Your recipe tastes great! It was by total accident that I found your website as I wasn’t searching for a poppy seed filling recipe. Years ago, I wanted to make Poppy Seed Strudel but used Solo poppy seed filling. It tasted horrible and I gave up. While I haven’t had my mother’s poppy seed strudel in probably 30 yrs, I can’t swear that yours tastes just like hers but it sure comes close. I’m not Jewish but have tried making Hamantaschen. The results weren’t very good–mostly because they kept opening up. Can’t wait to try your “folding” technique! But, for this time around I am using the poppy seed filing in another cookie which is very similar–Wiener Tascherl.
Margie says
I just made the filling. It tastes yummy and has a good custardy consistency. I added a few drops of lemon extract and a few drops of St. Germain (elderflower liqueur and it got even better. Can’t wait to actually bake the homentashn with it. Thanks for the recipe!
Tori Avey says
Fabulous ideas!
Cherrie says
Hi! I would like to know if the cookie freezes well as I would like to make them maybe a week in advance…Thanks 🙂
Sarah says
I made these with Tori Avey’s Hamentashen dough the last two years and my dad declares them “perfect,” what he’s been looking for since he was a kid.
This year I’m planning up a huge batch at the synagogue, breaking from the tradition of having only one filling. Can’t wait to wow people. I only wish it was easier to get pounds and pounds of poppy seeds like when my dad used to bring them home from the market.
Michelle says
I love this recipe, but have a question: how often do you encounter curdling when you make this? The first time I made the poppyseed filling, it came out perfect; the second time I saw slight signs of curdling…perhaps it’s inevitable in some cases? The filling was still totally edible and the cookies were still fantastic despite the curdling (and it really was just on the bottom of the pan where I experienced it in small amounts..nothing obvious). Anyway, thanks again for the fantastic recipe.
Ashley at ToriAvey.com says
Hi Michelle, Tori’s assistant Ashley here! To avoid curdling in this recipe, be sure that you slowly add the eggs as you whisk them in and keep an eye on the heat to make sure it’s not too hot. Hope this helps!
Joey says
If a custard looks like it is thinking about curdleing , take it off the heat and add an ice cube. Whisk it like mad and it should bring it back.
Donna says
My grandmother used to make the most amazing poppy seed filling, and as a child I used to hide under the kitchen table while she made pastries filled with poppy seed filling, and I would steal it by the spoon when she would turn around to put the pastries into the fryer. So, my grandmother said that this filling came out better than hers. I think the key here is to measure the poppy seeds once you ground them in the processor. I noticed that once they were crushed, they fell in volume and the filling was too runny. This will be my go to recipe for puppy seed filling from now one. Thank you for sharing your recipes with us.
Nori says
Pretty good, but my favorite is still the poppyseed filling from Nira Sheuer ‘s “Cakes for all seasons”, עוגות לכל עת, the baking “bible” of kibbutz women in the 80’s. I still use it! Simple: heat 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 tbs honey,1/4 cup of water until the sugar dissolves, add 1 cup of ground poppyseed, boil for a minute or so while stirring, remove from heat, add 1/4 cup raisins, 2 tbs lemon juice, 1 tbs grated lemon rind. Mix well, let stand until cool. I love the buttery cookie recipe and prefer it over the recipe in the above mentioned book. Made several batches both kinds and with Nutella, the most popular one!!
Kate says
I remember my mother making this recipe to fill the bread dough…kolacky. I was 4. I had to find this recipe again, because I can not get the poppy filling I needed. It is refreshing to see and good memories since my mother has passed. Showed my children thank you , Nora. Peace be with you.
Holly says
The John filling is an epic failure! Four days in refrigerator and it still runny. I threw it away! No Purim delight for me this year! 🙁
Tori Avey says
Holly, I’m sorry to hear this didn’t work out for you. If it was runny before placing it in the refrigerator, than you likely didn’t cook the tempered egg mixture long enough. You need to cook it until the texture is quite thick before stirring in the seeds.
DebR says
Delicious! I’ll never go back to store-bought. I also noticed that it did not coat the spoon, and it never got as thick as I expected – but it stayed cohesive, and baked up perfectly. Thanks for the recipe!
Bob says
Going to the market. Have been making breads only for a year.
Rebecca says
I have never made poppy seed filling before. I ground the seeds in a coffee grinder repeatedly. I had two problems. The first problem was that I couldn’t decide if the mixture was thick enough. It did turn yellow and then began to get grainy but it never really coated the spoon. The second problem was that after I added the poppy seeds I did the taste test and the mixture tasted much too much like poppy seed flour. Maybe it is not supposed to be sweet but it did not have a good flavor to me. So I tried baking one of the cookies, but the flavor did not improve. I have had poppy seed filling before but it was the canned variety. Am I just expecting the wrong thing from this recipe? Thank you. The cookies were amazing and I just filled them with Nutella.
David Posner says
This is fantastic!
By necessity, I had to use the pareve substitutions, as suggested. It seemed to be missing a little something, so I added a teaspoon of vanilla and half a teaspoon of orange liqueur. Those additions really put it over the top. I think maybe the vanilla makes up for the missing creaminess from not using real milk.
Tori Avey says
Great suggestions David, happy you liked it!
Miriam says
I made this and thought it was fine until I tried another recipe elsewhere that had an amazing recipe. Sorry! But the recipe for the lekvar on this site was wonderful!
Becki Jameson says
But Miriam, you aren’t sharing the recipe/web link with us? We might like to try it too. Any of us willing to admit so would say we don’t corner the market on knowledge and skill. Sharing recipes and information helps us all learn. I haven’t tried this filling yet, as what I’m reading has warned me that I’d better have the right type of grinder to pulverize the poppy seeds. Need to trek over to the natural foods store where I suspect I’ll be able to find poppy seeds in bulk, else will have to have hubby pick them up from the farmer’s market that’s on his way to New Jersey (we’re in Pennsylvania) where he works once a week.
joelle says
If I use the poppyseed filling, do I cook it with the hammentashen? Or do I add the filling when they are halfway cooked?
Tori Avey says
Follow the dough recipe, it should tell you when to put the filling in– before it is shaped and baked.
Aaron says
I’ve tried numerous poppy seed fillings over the years, but yours is the best. You basically start with a crème anglaise base, more or less, using whole eggs instead of egg yolks. An instant read thermometer helps here to avoid curdling the mixture: don’t heat it over 170°F. Incidently, you don’t say when to add the salt. I assume you add it along with the milk, sugar & honey.
Tori Avey says
So glad you like it Aaron. I updated the recipe with salt instructions.
Eileen says
It is very possible! i will try again, but not for a few days as I have several cakes to do in the next few days. I loved flavors and the dough I didn’t use can be rolled out as butter cookies so there is not waste. Thanks for the encouragement!
Becky W says
Eileen — the exact same thing happened to me last year. I believe it was because I did not use the correct amount of flour.
Eileen says
sigh, another epic failure. The flavor was there but the dough just spread out flat. Any ideas on what went wrong?
Tori Avey says
Eileen, did you follow the recipe and instructions word-for-word exactly as written? Literally hundreds of people have used my hamantaschen recipes successfully, so there must be something in your process that is not working– unfortunately I can’t pinpoint it if I’m not there with you. Did you fold them the way I suggested? Which filling recipe did you use? I’d love to help you troubleshoot this.
Barbara Schreiner says
What do you think of using coconut oil in place of butter, or spectrum shortening in place of butter and coconut milk in place of the milk for a parev version?
Tori Avey says
Coconut milk would be fine as a milk sub. I would use Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks, or another butter substitute, rather than shortening. Enjoy!
Eileen says
I have tried Hamantaschen twice. The first attempt was a disaster, The second less so. I am going to give your recipe a go as I would like to give them to a friend for Purim. I was not raised Jewish but grew up around the culture ( a number of neighbors) and have recently discovered my maternal grandmother’s Jewish roots.. I am going to cross my fingers and hope the ancestors are smiling as I go for a third attempt.
Tori Avey says
Good luck Eileen! You can do this. Let me know if you run into any trouble along the way 🙂