It's Purim Time: Hamantaschen

Before there was Halloween, before there was Carnivale/Mardi Gras, there was Purim.  A festival with costumes, feasting, and festivities.

Like most Jewish holidays, Purim celebrates the escape of the Jewish people from those who wanted to annihilate us.  Which is pretty much the history of the Jewish people up to and including the present. 

Purim retells the story of the brave Queen Esther who saves the Jews from the evil Haman - the king's adviser who had convinced the king to kill all the Jews in Persia.  

Every year the story is told through theatrical performance - known as the Purim spiel.  When Haman's name is said, the audience boos and shakes noisemakers known as "groggers" to drown out the very sound of his name.  Children dress in costume and participate in Purim Carnival games, winning treats and sweets.  They sing songs about the evil Haman, who, although the villain in the story, receives the most attention in the form of songs and sweets.

In Morocco, challahs are turned into "Haman's eyes" - sweet bread with hardboiled eggs baked into it to represent the eyes.  More traditionally worldwide Hamantaschen are eaten, their triangular shape a nod to the three-cornered hat Haman wore.

I grew up every year making these cookies with my father.  And now I make them with my children.  Unfortunately I don't know the recipe my father used - whether he crafted it himself or memorized it after years I'll never know, but he did the whole thing without once glancing at anything written down.  So I have been forced to cobble together my own version from various sources over the years.  Finding a dough that's soft - but not too soft, sweet - but not overly so, and sturdy enough to hold together through the baking process.

The filling is where things get fun.  Traditionally, prune, poppyseed, cherry, and apricot are the flavors used - through jams, jellys, and pie fillings.  But if there's one thing I learned from my dad, is that you don't need to be traditional.  Just about anything can work here.  We used to use chocolate chips or hershey kisses for chocolate hamantaschen when I was younger.  I happened to have nutella on  hand while we were making these, and I thought that would make a fun addition.  Thatkid requested grape jelly.  The only limits are your imagination.

My father always pinched together the dough circle at the top and each side of the bottom to create a triangle.  But when looking over various recipes I came across a folding method I tried out this year.  I'm not sure that one is better than another, but it was a fun new thing to try.  To give the folding method a shot, fold over the left side of the dough circle, then the right side to make a point, overlapping the right fold over the left fold at the top.  Then fold up the bottom, placing one part of that fold under the left fold and one part over the right fold, almost as though you were putting together the bottom of a box.  It's a little more complicated, but does result in a nice triangle.  You can see both versions in the picture above.

Hamentaschen

 3/4 cup butter, room temp

2/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

fillings: jam, jelly, pie filling, poppy seed, prunes, nutella, hershey kisses, butterscotch chips....

1.  Beat butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
2. Add egg and vanilla and beat until creamy.
3. Add in flour and salt and mix until just combined.  Turn out onto a floured work surface and knead until smooth.  Shape into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
4. Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 baking sheets with silpat or parchment paper.  Roll out dough into a circle about 1/4 inch thick.  Use a round cookie or biscuit cutter to cut out circles from the dough.  Gather the scraps and re-roll and cut until all the dough is used.  Place the dough circles on your baking sheets.
5. Place 1 tsp of filling in the center of each circle.  Pinch or fold the circle into a triangle, pressing to seal.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. 

Purim Time!: Chocolate Cherry Hamentaschen

 

This post is kind of almost a week late.  Purim was last week, but we really didn't celebrate till this past weekend, when our synagogue held their Purim Carnival.

Purim is a combination of Halloween and Mardi Gras.  It celebrates the story of Esther, the brave queen who, along with her Uncle Mordecai saved the Jewish people from the evil Haman - the Old Testament version of Hitler.

Haman had convinced the King to exterminate all the Jews.  What the King didn't know was that his wife, Esther was Jewish.  When she confronts him and tells him, along with the fact that his decree means he must kill her too, the King relents.  The Jewish people are saved.  

Each year we celebrate by eating, drinking, and being merry.  This is the Jewish holiday of pagents - similar to the Christmas nativity, the Purim "Megillah" is re-enacted by Sunday school children worldwide.  Costumes are worn and carnivals are held.  When I was growing up, the costume choices were Esther, Mordecai, Haman, or King Ahasuerus.  But since Thatkid has been in school, I've noticed that Purim nowadays is more any costume goes. 

Thatkid decided he wanted to wear his Halloween costume to the carnival last weekend.   At first he was hesitant to go inside because he didn't see the giant rides and inflatables his school had last year.  But once we got inside, he was more than happy to play all the carnival games.

 

 

And because the carnival is geared for kids, they were very generous with the prize tickets, no matter how poorly Thatkid played.

There was also face painting, which is one of Thatkid's favorite things ever.

He spent the rest of the day trying to talk without moving his mouth and making me cut his food into little bites so he wouldn't mess up his facepaint.

Almost as soon as we got in the car, he let us know what a good time he had:

After he woke up, we continued with the Purim celebration with the quintessential Purim food - Hamentaschen.  Meant to symbolize the 3 cornered hat worn by Haman, they are filled cookies.  Traditionally the cookies are filled with jam/jelly/preserves, but Thatkid requested we make ours with chocolate chips.  When I agreed, but told him I wanted to make some cherry ones (my favorite!) he suggested we combine the cherry jam with the chocolate chips.  Not a bad idea kid!

I laid out the ingredients, which he mixed together in the Kitchenaid.  Then I rolled out the dough while he cut the circles.  Next I placed the jam while he sprinkled chocolate chips over top.  While we worked we sang "My hat it has 3 corners."  Then we baked the cookies and ate them.  But really, when Thatboy is gone all afternoon surfing, we have to find some way to entertain ourselves!

Chocolate Cherry Hamentaschen (Adapted from the Joan Nathan Jewish Holiday Cookbook)

 1/4 lb unsalted butter at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 large egg, beaten

2 Tbsp orange juice

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp wheat germ

2 cups flour

cherry preserves

chocolate chips

1. Cream the butter in an electric mixer.
2. Add the sugar and mix until light and fluffy.
3. Add the egg, orange juice, vanilla, baking powder, and salt and mix well.
4. Add the wheat germ and the flour, 1/2 cup at a time.    Mix until the dough comes together into a ball.  Shape into a disk and refrigerate for 2 hours.
5. Preheat oven to 375.  Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is about 1/2 inch thick.
6. Cut the dough into circles using a 2-inch cookie cutter.
7. Place 1 Tbsp of cherry preserves in the center of each circle.
8. Top preserves with 1 tsp of chocolate chips per circle.  Pinch together 3 corners evenly spaced along the edges of the circle to form a triangle.  Arrange the cookies on parchment paper or silpat lined baking sheet, 1 inch apart.
9. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the cookies are light golden brown.

Hava narishah - rash, rash, rash

You may not be familiar with the title of this post, but in Thathouse we have been hearing this song on repeat for weeks.  It's a traditional Purim song that apparently is very popular with the toddler set.

And since last weekend was Purim, last week we all attended the Purim Carnival at Thatbaby's school.  This is a pretty big deal at the school.  They really go all out.  To begin with, the preschool playground was converted into an Animal wonderland, complete with pony rides and a petting zoo.  Thatbaby loved petting the chickens, pigs, goats, and sheep, but the highlight was definitely getting to hold a rabbit on his lap.  The rabbit was fond of Thatbaby too as he nuzzled up close to Thatbaby's neck.  And I was so proud of my little guy in riding the pony all by himself.  He was so excited, he didn't even demand Thatboy and I walk with him.  He just sat and enjoyed the ride.

The elementary school parking lot had been turned into a little fair.  Little only in that it was limited by area.  There were two giant bouncy slides like the one pictured above, so no lines for crazy fun.  There was a bounce house just for jumping.  Other inflatable gear meant for the older children who could play gladiator, or bungee.  An inflatable bucking cow (Thatbaby was not a fan of), and all sorts of ride on toys for the kids to play with.  They had tents providing snacks for everyone.  Thatbaby had popcorn, an ice cream sandwich, and a hamentaschen.  They also did some face painting.

Thatbaby requested his face to be painted like one of the older girls he went to school with, which entailed swirlies and hearts.  He also wanted purple hair.  He also apparently requested a butterfly on his nose while it was being done.  He took it very seriously, holding ever so still as she painted his face with his two favorite colors - purple and brown.  Afterwards he took advantage of some of the carnival games that were set up for the kids to play with.  And after all that, there was a circus performance for the kids to watch.  Although, towards the end of that he was curled up on my lap - obviously worn out from the morning's activities.