Purim Bannontashen

Once upon a time there was a buffoon of a king who had a tremendous amount of money. He also had a big ego, so he was convinced he was, like, a really smart person.

Despite his foolishness, many of his countrymen loved him, and even some Jews attended his bigly party. He ruled over huuuuuge swaths of land, but his own city had a big wall around it.

He loved to eat, drink and be merry. He had little respect for women, believe me. In fact, he ordered his own wife to be killed because she was a loser, and then he held a beauty contest to choose the next queen. He followed the advice of an evil advisor who hated the Jews and wanted them killed. He liked him, though, because he was tough. The king would make rash, even bizarre, edicts. And, he would stay up late reading about himself because he had the best words.

And just when things couldn’t possibly get worse, the king’s Jewish wife boldly convinced him to instead kill the evil advisor because he was a really BAD, sick guy. Hooray, the Jews were saved! It was terrific.

מעשה אבות סימן לבנים––The acts of the ancestors is an indicator for the descendants.

Happy Purim!

BANNONTASHEN
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, plus more for rolling
2 eggs
2/3 cup neutral oil (I use grape seed oil)
1/2t fresh lemon juice
2T orange juice
1/2 nutmeg
1t vanilla
2t baking powder
1/2t salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For the dough, combine all the ingredients in a bowl with a dough mixer until a soft ball forms. If it’s too dry, add a little more orange juice and/or oil until it’s moist enough to form a ball. Divide the dough into 2 parts and roll it out over a floured surface to about a 1/4 inch. Cut rounds with a kid-size cup. Add a small dollop of filling to each circle and fold on three sides. Be sure to close the cookies almost entirely because they will open in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes.

For filling, we used two kinds of preserves. We also like the chocolate filling below:
3T peanut butter or any other nut butter you like
1t cocoa powder
1/2t honey