Little Hamantaschen Cookies

1 cup sugar
2 sticks margarine melted
3 eggs
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
rind of 1 orange
3 cups sifted flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Blend sugar and melted margarine.
Add eggs, orange juice, and chopped orange rind.
Add dry ingredients and mix well.
Chill dough in about three big pieces of wax paper.

Work with only one piece at a time.
Roll out chilled dough and cut into 2 inch rounds.
Place a little filling in and pinch three corners of dough
around filling.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 350 F for 20 min.

Filling:
1/4 lb prunes
1/3 cup raisins
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbs water
1/4 cup chopped nuts

Boil prunes and raisins in a little water. Drain.
Place in blender with about 2 Tbs of drained water.
Add sugar and nuts. Blend until smooth.
Place about 1/2 tsp filling into each cookie.
Filling may be frozen.

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Hamantaschen cookies are made for the Jewish holiday of Purim which occurs anywhere from the middle of February to the middle of March depending on the year. Purim celebrates the escape from annihilation of the Jewish people under the Persian king Ahasuerus (third century B.C.). As told in the biblical Book of Esther, the king banished his wife Vashti for refusing to appear naked before his guests. He then held a beauty contest during which he picked a beautiful Jewish woman named Esther as his new queen. Meanwhile, one of his courtiers, Haman, was plotting to kill all the Jews in the kingdom. Esther and her uncle, Mordecai, successfuly conspired to foil the plot by wining and dining the king and then begging him to spare her people, which he did. The cookies represent the shape of Haman's hat.