The day I made some ugly ears

It’s such fun having Jewish friends. Last year, my friend Y sent me a recipe for some cookies she called אוזני המן (oznei haman). I was excited! I promised myself that I’d make them this year. And then a couple months ago Michal sent me one of her own.

רב תודות, חברות! ׳

And so, today I gave it a try, mixing both recipes, and it turned out okay, I think, especially considering the fact that this was my first time using an oven. Ever.

Oznei haman are called, in English, hamentashen (one hamentash, two hamentashen), a loan word from Yiddish, and that’s what Michal calls them. Both the Hebrew and English/Yiddish terms mean “the ears of Haman”, named for the villain of the Esther story, the story of the Jewish holiday known as Purim (פורים). They symbolise the defeat of Haman, who was working toward the genocide of the Jewish people.

I think mine are sort of ugly, but as one of my friends said: “Eh, the taste is important, not the looks!” (Or, as Michal’s roomie said, “味一緒。” [Aji issho; the taste is the same])

Anyway, without further ado, take the journey with me through my first experience with baking. (Unless you count cake-in-a-mug, a microwave-oven pastry that Robyn revealed to me last year.)

The ingredients

Sugar and flax eggs

Mixing flax eggs, sugar, and honey

I shuddered when I saw this much oil in the recipe…

The dough, everything mixed in

Using the cup to cut the cookie shapes

My oznei haman; they look pretty ugly, huh?

They turned out pretty good, actually.

I doubt these will actually list until the weekend, but I’ll probably make some more, since I want to give some people from church. Fun!