Purim this year is in 10 days – March 17. Basically, the holiday is celebrated by eating cookies shaped like Haman’s hat. Haman is the bad guy who wanted Mordechai to bow down to him. But because Mordechai refused, Haman decided that he was going to wipe the entire population of Jews. There’s more to the story and here is a link you can visit to learn more.

About a week or so ago, I attempted to make Hamantaschen. The results were sad – the cookies never held their shape and they were flat! Not even flat like a pancake, because at least pancakes are fluffy. Turns out that the dough was way too soft – even after chilling for a few hours. I am not as confident of a baker as a cook. Baking, for me, is very precise and exact. You just can’t “eyeball” the ingredients.

So today, I got a recipe from a friend (Thanks, Michelle Landy-Shavim) and I used it. Still, while I was beating the creamed sugar/margarine mixture and mixing it with the flour, I noticed that the dough was way too soft. You know the consistency where it doesn’t even hold up to a shape when you wrap it in plastic wrap. So I added a lot more flour and then chilled it.

It turned out perfectly! Lesson learned: recipes are guidelines and there are many factors that affect the results of your baking. The key is to know what to expect – and that is hard for first-time bakers. If you can, try to watch a video so you can see what the results of each step should look like at least. Following a written recipe is like baking without knowing what it’s supposed to look like.

For the fillings, I used a variety. These ones shown above have either a brownie or shite chocolate sprinkles. I also made date-filled ones. Aren’t they cute? The cookies tasted great and the fillings are even better!