Baba Beh Tamur

Linda and I had been toying with the idea of making hamantaschen to bring to a friend's dinner this week. Making them: what an idea! No bakery involved. (In my family, if you really wanted to make an effort, you'd schlep up to Ashkenaz to buy stuff.) But then we heard our friends talking about the relative merits of different crusts, or the comparative desirability of poppy as opposed to apricot, and we knew we were out of our league.

So, instead we made Baba Beh Tamur, which is (apparently) what you make for Purim if you're a Jew in Baghdad, provided you can get flour and oil and dates and nuts and fire. Which is probably more than somewhat difficult these days. Thanks again, Republican voters.

And they're pretty good. The yeast pastry might seem scary, but it's very easy and fast-moving; we made the dough before dinner, it rose during dinner, and we rolled it out right afterward. (The recipe calls for fresh yeast, which of course no one has on hand. I used 2T of instant yeast, and it was fine)