By Eileen Goltz, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer

It doesn’t matter if you fashion your favorite dough into Purim villain Haman’s hat, pockets, or ears; these recipes will ensure that your Purim is festive, fun and delicious.

And here’s a general tip: To fold into the shape of a hamantash (a triangle) use both thumbs and the two first fingers on each hand. Slide two fingers from left hand under left side and two fingers from right hand under right side and two thumbs under the bottom of circle. Bring all fingers (with dough) together to form a triangle and try to pinch close. Repeat this process with remaining circles and dough.

Cream Cheese Hamantashen (dairy)

I got this recipe from a 1997 Gourmet magazine and it’s fantastic!

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits

4 oz. (1/2 cup) cream cheese, cut into bits

1 large egg yolk

1 tsp. vanilla

2/3 cup filling (apricot or cherry jam, ready made poppy seed, prune filling)

In a bowl with a pastry blender or in a food processor, blend or pulse flour, sugar, and salt to combine and add butter and cream cheese, blending or pulsing until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

In a small bowl, stir together yolk and vanilla and add to flour mixture, blending or pulsing just until mixture begins to come together (do not overmix).

Gather dough into a ball and flatten into a disk. Chill dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, at least one hour and up to two days.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Halve dough. On a lightly floured cool surface, knead half of dough (keeping other half wrapped and chilled) two or three times to make it less crumbly. Roll out dough 1/4-inch thick and with a 3-inch cutter cut out as many rounds as possible.

Transfer rounds with a metal spatula to a large baking sheet, arranging about 1/2 inch apart. Reroll scraps and cut out more rounds. Put one teaspoon filling in center of each round and fold up edges to form triangular cookies resembling a tri-cornered hat, pinching corners together and leaving filling exposed. Pinch dough tightly enough so seams are no longer visible and sides are taut enough to prevent cookies from leaking filling as they bake.

Bake hamantashen in middle of oven 20 minutes, or until pale golden. Cool hamantashen on baking sheet five minutes and transfer to racks to cool completely. Make more hamantashen with remaining dough and filling in same manner.

Hamantashen keep in an airtight container at room temperature for days. Makes two dozen.

Cherry Orange Hamantashen (pareve or dairy)

3/4 cup margarine or butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp. orange juice concentrate

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. salt

up to 1 Tbsp. of water

1 (21 oz.) can cherry pie filling, slightly drained of the gooey syrup

3 Tbsp. breadcrumbs

2^1/4 cups flour

powdered sugar for garnish

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the margarine/butter and sugar. Add the egg, orange juice concentrate, and vanilla. Beat to combine. Add in the flour and salt. Beat in the water a few drops at a time until dough starts to come away from sides of bowl (you can do this in a food processor).

Place the dough on wax paper and push it into a flat disk. Place another sheet of wax paper on top and wrap the dough in foil. Refrigerate for at least two hours or as long as overnight.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350. In a bowl, combine the slightly drained cherry pie filling and bread crumbs. Mix to combine. On a floured surface, roll out the dough until it’s about 1/4 of an inch thick. Using a round cookie cutter cut out circles.

Spoon two to three cherries and a little bit of filling onto the dough circles and form into triangles. Place on a cookie sheet lined with baking paper. Bake for 12-15 minutes or just starting to turn pale golden.

Remove from oven and cool on rack. When cool, dust with powdered sugar and serve. Makes two to three dozen depending on the size circle you cut out.

Yeast Dough Hamentashen (dairy)

This recipe comes from Joan Nathan’s Jewish Holiday Cookbook.

Nut or fruit filling:

1/2 cup (4 oz.) water

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 cup (5^1/4 oz.) sugar

1^1/2 Tbsp. orange zest

1/2 tsp. lemon zest

2 Tbsp. (1^1/2 oz.) honey

2^1/4 cups (9 oz.) coarsely ground pecans, walnuts or chopped dried fruit of your choice, such as prunes, dates, cherries, or apricots

2 Tbsp. cake or soft bread crumbs

Dough:

2 Tbsp. instant yeast

1/4 cup (2 oz.) milk, scalded and cooled to lukewarm

1 cup (7 oz.) sugar

2 cups (4 sticks, 1 lb.) unsalted butter, cold

3/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. lemon zest

7 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1 cup (8 oz.) sour cream

3 large eggs

Candied cherries and sliced almonds for garnish, optional

For the filling: Bring the water, cinnamon and sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the zests and honey; return to a boil. Add the nuts and crumbs, stir well. Simmer on low heat for three to four minutes. Remove from the heat, cool, and store in a covered bowl in the refrigerator until ready to use.

For the dough: In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk. In an electric mixer fitted with a paddle, combine the butter, salt, vanilla, zest, and sugar. Beat at low speed for three minutes. Add the flour, beat at low speed for four minutes more.

Add the sour cream, two of the eggs, and the yeast mixture. Beat at medium speed for four to five minutes, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Divide the dough into quarters, then each quarter into nine pieces to get 36 equal pieces. Roll them into balls, place them on a flour-dusted tray, cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Dust a work surface with flour. Roll each ball out into an oval about 2^1/4 inches long by 2 inches wide.

To assemble: Place one heaping teaspoon of the filling in the center of each oval. To make the three-cornered hat shape, lift the two longer sides of the oval over the filling, making a point at the top. Then fold the remaining short edge up to enclose the filling and make a triangle. There should be no filling visible.

Transfer the cookies to two lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheets. Beat the remaining egg, and use it to brush the tops of the hamantashen. Let the cookies rise for 30 to 35 minutes, brush once more with the beaten egg.

Mark the tops, and let sit another 20 minutes while you preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Just before baking, place a slice of almond and half a candied cherry on top. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes, until golden brown. Yields three dozen.