Hamentashen and Mishloach Manot for Purim

Purim is, hands down, one of the most fun holidays.  We dress up, have a festive meal, have a drink or two, and give and get gifts from our friends.

When I was younger, Purim was all about the carnival for me. But now, my favorite part is the Mishloach Manot, packages of food gifted to friends and family.  Giving mishloach manot on Purim is one of the 4 mitzvot for the holiday.  The other 3 are: to hear the Book of Esther read; give Matanot La'evyonim, gifts to the poor; and to have a Sudah, a festive meal.

To fulfill the mitzvah of Mishloach Manot, one must include at least 2 ready to eat foods and give them to at least one person.  The most common food to include is hamentashen!  Below is a traditional recipe for this delicious, tri-cornered cookie.

Hamentashen
Ingredients:
4 C flour  + more for rolling
1 C sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2 sticks of butter (or margarine)
1 teaspoon vanilla
orange zest (optional)

Directions:
Mix together all dry ingredients in large bowl
Add butter, eggs and vanilla to dry ingredients, mix well.  Dough will be sticky.
Chill dough for at least 30 minutes.  Working with no more than 1/4th of the dough at a time, roll out dough on a floured surface till about 1/8 inch thick.  Cut 3-inch circles out.
Fill each circle with 1 teaspoon of filling of your choice (apricot, prune, poppy, chocolate, etc) and fold into a triangle, pinching corners together.
Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes.
I got about 60 Hamentashen out of this recipe.  Amounts will vary due to thickness and cookie-cutter size.

This year, I made blueberry Hamentashen.  However, with my last batch I had some fun.  Instead of adding some extra flour to reduce the dough sticky-ness as I worked with it, I added graham cracker crumbs and filled the hamentashen with chocolate spread and marshmallow fluff making a S'more Hamentashen.  Delicious!

After my cookies cooled, I started to assemble my Mishloach Manot packages.  I themed my packages "coffee".  Ironically, I did not include any coffee in the package.  I bought coffee mugs and filled them with hot chocolate mix, tea bags, biscotti and hamentashen.  Below is a picture of the final product.