Purim - Esther's Fast/Feast

This year is a Jewish leap year with an extra month of Adar. As a result, Purim is the Jewish holiday close to Good Friday and Easter, rather than the usual Passover. Our Passover Seder will come on the 23rd of April at sunset this year. In recent centuries, Jewish families eat Hamantashen during Purim and give gifts to the poor. The story of "Esther" is read and often dramatized, with all the children dressing in costumes of the characters in the story. Our daughter loved to dress like the queen, her namesake, when she was young. While reading the story, noisemakers, called groggors, are shook or twirled, or folks boo & hiss whenever Haman's name is read. Wolf whistles are made when Esther's name is read. Everyone shouts "Yea" or "Hurrah" when Mordecai's name is read. Hamantashen are cookies that look like the three-cornered hat that tradition says Haman, the villain in the story, wore. Here is my favorite dough for Hamantashen:
1/4 pound butter 2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup sugar 1/4 tsp. baking soda
3 egg yolks 1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 pint sour cream 1/8 tsp. orange zest
3 cups flour

I always double this recipie when I make it. Cream butter and sugar together until well mixed. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks. (Save the whites for Meringue cookies) Add the beaten egg yolks to the butter-sugar mixture; then add the sour cream.
In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda; add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture. Now add the vanilla and orange zest. (I always save orange peels for a couple of weeks before Purim to make my own fresh orange zest.) Mix well. Cover securely with wax paper or plastic wrap. Let stand in the refrigerator overnight. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Roll out 1/4 inch thick and cut into 3 1/2 inch rounds. Place a heaping tsp. of filling into the center of each round. Draw up two sides of the dough and then the third, pinching the edges in the center of the round to form a three-cornered "pocket" for the filling. Place on a greased baking sheet & bake for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned. ( Our favorite fillings are fruit preserves like apricot, strawberry or huckleberry. More traditional are date, prune or poppyseed fillings.)

Meringues Plus Cookies - What we do with the egg whites!
2 egg whites 3/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt 1/4 cup chopped nuts
1/8 tsp. cream of tartar 1 6-ounce pkg.chocolate chips or bits
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Beat egg whites with salt, cream of tartar, and vanilla until soft peaks form. Add sugar slowly and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold in nuts and chocolate. Grease cookie sheet and dust lightly with flour. Drop by heaping teaspoonful on sheet & bake for 25 minutes.

On those years that Purim is close to St. Patrick's Day, I add a little green food coloring to the egg white mixture. On leap years, I leave the mixture white, so it more resembles the Messiah's tomb. When baked, the cookies are mostly empty!