Crafty Mondays: Hamantashen (and “spring break”)

Happy Monday! I am going to be moving this weekend into a much larger place, so I’m going to go on my own “spring break” for a week or so. But before I go, let me tell you about a little holiday called Purim. For years, I’ve been describing Purim as “Jewish Halloween” because, well, it kind of is… You dress up, play games, and eat sweets.

The most important part of this holiday, as is true for almost all Jewish holidays, is the retelling of a story. This time, it’s about Esther, a beautiful jewess who caught the eye of King Ahasuerus at a beauty pageant. He married her and later this relationship came in handy when the King’s royal vizier Haman tried to have all the Jews in his kingdom killed. Esther’s uncle Mordecai asked Esther to intervene and at her pleading the Jews were saved. Just imagine if you will the characters dressed up as Star Wars characters or Winny the Pooh characters and you’ve got yourself Purim.

For the occasion, we make three pointed cookies for Haman’s three pointed hat, called hamantashen. It’s kind of one of my favorite things to bake… So this year with my help of my sister, I made around 20-25 delicious hamantashen. From this recipe from the New York Times. I can only add that I recommend refrigerating the cookies before putting them in the oven, I think it helps them not collapse as easily…  My filling was red plum jam and chocolate chips.