Hamentaschen

It's Lent and I've given up sweets. Well, at least chocolate. But I'll celebrate any holiday that involves baking and Purim usually falls sometime in March. I still can't quite understand the whole history of the holiday, but know that Haman was bad, he wanted to kill the Jews and he died on the scaffolding he built to kill them with. So, the holiday is a celebration that Haman died and the taschen are the cute sweets.

You don't have to be Jewish to love Purim!



Dough:

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg white
1/2 orange, zest grated

Filling:

Buy it from the store. Prune, poppy and apricot are traditional.

Method:

1. Combine first 4 ingredients in food processor. Process until crumbly.
2. Mix remaining ingredients together in a separate bowl.
3. Pour liquid into food processor, mix until dough holds together.
4. Pat dough into two disks, wrap in plastic wrap, chill for 30 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 350*. Roll dough onto floured board, no thinner than 1/4". Using a 3" circular cutter, cut dough circles. You can re-roll the scraps several times.
6. Place one teaspoon of filling in the center of each circle. Pinch three corners of dough circle to make a triangular pastry. Make sure you pinch the corners well, otherwise the shape won't hold!
7. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes, until lightly browned. Wait until cool to eat -- the fruit filling gets tongue-burningly hot!