These traditional Jewish three-cornered cookies and are favourites during the festival of Purim, which begins at sundown on March 9. But you don't need to be observing it to love these traditional holiday cookies, which are shaped like a three-cornered hat and filled with jam, prune or poppy seed filling. My version is richer and flakier than some of the traditional recipes. It is easily doubled if you want more.

Cream Cheese Pastry:
3 ounces (90 grams) cream cheese, cut into pieces
3 ounces (90 grams) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup all-purpose flour
Pinch salt
1 tablespoon sugar
Filling:
1 cup chopped prunes
½ cup brewed green tea
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon rind
¼ cup brown sugar
1 egg, beaten

Place cream cheese, butter, flour, salt and sugar in a food processor and pulse until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Remove from processor and form into a ball. Chill for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Combine prunes, tea, lemon juice and rind in a small pot over medium heat and bring to boil. Let simmer for 10 minutes or until prunes are very soft. Add brown sugar and let simmer for 5 minutes longer or until mixture is thick and jam-like.

Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface to about ¼-inch thickness. Use a cookie cutter to cut out 3-inch circles, gathering and re-rolling scraps as necessary. You should have about 12 pastry bases.

Place a heaped teaspoon of prune mixture in the centre of each pastry round and brush edge of each circle with a little beaten egg. Bring pastry edge up around filling on two sides and pinch together to make a point of sealed pastry; repeat two more times (pinching pastry well to ensure that it seals together) so that filling is almost enclosed and cookie looks like a three-cornered hat.

Bake for 15 minutes or until pastry is golden. Cool on sheet for 5 minutes and transfer to a rack to cool completely. Makes about 12.