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Close up of 3 poppy seed hamantaschen on a flowery plate with a bowl of filling in the background.

Poppy Seed Filling

Beth Lee
Poppy seed filling for hamantaschen or other pastries and baked goods is a great addition to your baking arsenal. I will show you how to make the base recipe flavored with lemon and so many optional flavor additions.
4.50 from 6 votes
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine Jewish Holiday Baking
Servings 12
Calories 56 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • ½ cup poppy seeds
  • ½ cup almond milk
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon lemon zest
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions
 

  • Grind the poppy seeds, with a coffee grinder or a high speed blender such as a Vitamix. Or put the poppy seeds in a plastic bag and use a heavy rolling pin to grind them down or even a mortar and pestle.
    Poppy seeds after grinding but still in coffee grinder.
  • Place the poppy seeds, almond milk, sugar, lemon juice and zest, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil on medium heat.
    Poppy seed filling starting to boil in pot.
  • Turn down to medium low to maintain a low boil. Let it cook for 10 - 15 minutes. It will thicken up but still be loose enough to slide easily off the spoon.
    Filling boiling in pot when it's almost ready and you can see some white foam on the top.
  • Taste your filling for sweetness and flavor and adjust if necessary. Then take it off the heat to cool. It will seem a little too loose at first, but once it cools down, the texture will be just right. Place it in the refrigerator until ready to use. This recipe makes 1 cup of filling.
    poppy seed filling in a 1-cup measuring cup.
  • Optional mix-ins: Before you fill your hamantaschen dough or other poppy seed pastry, experiment with some of the other mix-ins, if you want. Start by taking just a small amount of the filling and just a bit of the mix-in (such as cinnamon, unsweetened cocoa powder, almond or vanilla extract, raspberry jam, or chopped walnuts) and mix together. If you like the flavor combination, then you can divide the filling up and make different combinations or add one mix-in to the whole batch. Start with just a little, you can always add more. For example: ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon for ½ cup of poppy seed filling, as a starting point.
    Walnuts mixed into a small amount of the filling in a small white bowl.

Notes

  • Be sure the filling is chilled when you make your hamantaschen or other baked good.
  • Poppy seeds go rancid rather quickly, so check the date of the package you buy, smell them when you open the package, and store the package in the freezer, with a date written on it, after you open it.
  • Don't overfill each cookie -- less is more with hamantaschen! This is true of poppy seed filling, or any kind of filling.

Nutrition

Calories: 56kcalCarbohydrates: 10gProtein: 1gFat: 2gSaturated Fat: 0.2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.3gSodium: 63mgPotassium: 32mgFiber: 1gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 0.1IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 73mgIron: 0.4mg
Keyword hamantaschen, poppy seeds, purim
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