Sierpinski Hamentaschen!

Well, this recipe for Sierpinski hamentaschen is clearly a big win.

This solves the ages-old "hamentaschen problem" of a hamentasch consisting of too much dough and not enough cherries --- here I am assuming sensibility and that one has chosen to make the cherry variety. (Apricot and, to a lesser extent, chocolate are acceptable, as well. If there is a cherry hamentasch available, that is the one I am going for. I think they are best with somewhat sour fruits, although I don't tend to like them with raspberries.)

While you are here, you should clearly also look up the Sierpinski triangle.

Tip of the cap to Karen Daniels.

Update: You may also recall that our very own Mathematical Institute held a mathematical bake-off last fall. You can follow the links therein to pictures from the bake-off and to other mathematical baking awesomeness.

Update (3/05/15): My first post for the Improbable Research blog is about this story. Very timely, too.

Order and Disorder in Pastry Displays

Perhaps strange dreams beget strange ideas, and here's my idea for the day.

I was at Green's Cafe today, and I noticed that the ordering of the pastries in their display case differs from day to day. And this makes me ask: Is it better strategically to do this (perhaps so people think there is more variety than there actually is?) or is it better to go with regularity and put everything --- when it's in stock --- in basically the same place every day. Also, it might be interesting to come up with a mathematical model of this. Do any of you have any thoughts on whether order or disorder is better in this situation? (Also, I'm guessing that the model would have a phase transition between a region in which the pastries should be ordered and one in which disorder ought to be favorable.)