In Israel, the holiday boasts parades, as well as costume and food competitions. Traditionally, costumes focused on characters from the Purim story. However, the joyful nature of the holiday expanded to include clowns, fairy tales, movie & Disney characters and much more.
No Jewish holiday is complete without its unique food. Purim is no exception, featuring Hamantaschen (in Yiddish), also called Ozney Haman (in Hebrew). These are triangle shaped cookies, filled with an assortment of fillings, such as poppy seed, apricot and my two personal favorites: date and chocolate. The shape of the cookies is said to resemble Haman’s hat in an act of defiance, after all we are EATING his hat… These cookies end up in an exchange of goodies referred to as Mishloah Manot – the gifting of meals: a Purim tradition of sending goodies to loved ones and neighbors.
My kids have never been fans of fruit fillings, so chocolate became the favorite filling in our house. Shocker, I know. One of my favorite memories of Purim is of my son Ethan and two of his non-Jewish high school friends, Aaron and Erica, toiling at my kitchen counter at rolling dough, filling circles and learning how to crimp the corners. Our conversation naturally revolved around the nature of faith, the practice of religion and the power of rituals. We exchanged stories, perspectives and learned a lot about each other. Those were good times!
For your own taste of Purim here is a recipe for chocolate filled Hamantaschen
Chocolate Hamantaschen
Adapted from: “Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking” Marcy Goldman
Makes about 40 cookies
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
3/4 cup unsalted margarine, or butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vanilla soy milk, or milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2-teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
Filling
1 jar chocolate hazelnut spread, (such as Nutella)
Topping
1 large egg white, beaten
1/2-cup coarse sugar, optional
1/2 cup chocolate sprinkles, optional
Dough: In a large bowl cream together the shortening, the butter or margarine, and sugar. Add the eggs and blend until smooth. Add the soy milk or milk and the vanilla. (If the mixture seems curdled, add a bit of flour to bind it).
Fold in the dry ingredients. Mix to make a firm but soft dough. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead lightly to form a large, smooth ball. Divide the dough in half, wrap each piece in plastic, chill for 10-20 minutes. Preheat oven to 350F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Roll out one piece of dough on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Cut 3.5″ rounds with a cookie cutter and brush the rounds with the beaten egg white. Fill each round with a generous teaspoonful of chocolate hazelnut Spread or another filling (apricot or cherry work well). Fold in the edges of the circle to form a triangle of pastry encasing the filling. Brush the pastry again with the beaten egg white and, if desired, sprinkle with the sugar or chocolate sprinkles. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
Bake until golden brown (18-22 minutes). If you prefer, this dough can be made ahead and refrigerated up to 2 days or frozen for a couple of months. Allow the dough to warm up before rolling it out.
