Purim Happiness

I decided to make Hamentaschen this year. Actually, I decided to observe all the Purim mitzvot this year, and was foiled when the Megillah reading I planned to attend seemed not to happen.

Anyway, I made Hamentaschen this year, which is a major thing for someone who is not a baker. I made prune filling from scratch, and bought some nice organic apricot jam. I made the dough, rolled it out, cut it and filled it -- twice because I didn't love the first batch.

I've been pretty happy with The Mensch Chef for savories (the matzo brie is a phenomenon), but have never tried the desserts. His dough has way too much butter, which makes it relatively easy to work with but ultimately unsatisfying for Hamentaschen, it just seemed more like butter cookies with jam. So I made another batch from Joan Nathan's Jewish Holiday Kitchen, and liked these much better.

In they end they weren't that hard and were extremely satisfying, I look forward to making them again next year (and not sooner).