In the week of Purim, it seemed appropriate that yesterday was all about hamantaschen. It was also about refugees.

I demonstrated two hamantaschen recipes to a small group from the Association of Jewish Refugee (AJR). Fig and halva and last year’s creation — Lotus Biscoff and white chocolate.

To make the best biscuity hamantaschen you need to rest the dough in the fridge before rolling, then refrigerate your formed cookies until firm. (*See below for hamantaschen top tips)

Unless I wanted to keep my (virtual) audience captive for a couple of hours, I had to do some Blue Peter-style preparing ahead, which meant baking a double or even triple batch.

It was a Zoom demo — no one around to eat them except me and my family — so there were a lot left over. So instead of scoffing the lot, I boxed them up to sell and raise funds for Unicef to support the refugees in all of our minds — in Ukraine.

The lovely lady from AJR offered to buy a couple of boxes and, after I’d posted on Facebook, the other 11 boxes were snapped up. I’ll be busy dropping them off for everyone’s Purim celebrations.

Making the two recipes gave me a chance to taste test both doughs and I can report that the fig and halva dough is the best. I’ll be mixing up a second batch later today to raise a little more to send to Unicef.

* Tips:
1. One way to ensure they hold their shape during the bake is to make sure they are chilled until firm to the touch before baking - about 20 - 30 minutes . If short on time pop them in your freezer for 5 - 10 minutes.
2. Second secret: avoid overfilling. Generous scoops of jam/choc spread are the natural inclination of the balaboosta, but ignore you instincts and err on the side of mean. Just a scant ½ - 1 teaspoon will be ample – unless you are aiming for road-kill style pastries.
3. Thin dough makes for a finer cookie: you'll be folding your it over so for a delicate bite, roll to about 3mm thick before you start cutting out.