Egyptian Ka'k Shortbread Cookie

The perfect Eid cookie! A melt in your mouth buttery shortbread cookie that is PERFECT with turkish coffee or espresso. They look fancy but are super easy to throw together and you can have them ready in a tin for when your guests pop in.

Basic Egyptian Ka'k (shortbread)
Approx. 60 cookies

4 cups flour
50 g powdered sugar + extra for dusting
3/4 tsp baking powder

sprinkle of salt (1/16 tsp)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tbsp Ka'k essence  (or ground mahlab, which comes from the pit of a cherry giving it that almost almond like essence)



Whisk all of the above.

Add until absorbed:

300 g ghee or clarified butter at room temperature, it's creamy textured (or 1 1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp)

Splash of orange blossom water

Incorporate the milk until dough forms:

40 g milk at room temperature, or add up to 80 g if needed

Mix all together and roll into balls. Use a tbsp sized scoop if you have one and put evenly sized balls of dough onto your baking sheet.

Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F for 22-25 minutes until firm to touch and golden all over. Remove from oven and cool

Lay on a tray or flat surface and dust with powdered sugar using a fine sieve and tapping the edge from a height over the cookies.

Store in a container, these will keep for a very long time.

Macarona Bachamel

Here's a revision on the beloved "Macarona Bachamel" an Egyptian dish which resembles the Greek Pastitsio very much.

I had some ground beef but wasn't in the mood for lasagne. Macarona bechamel was perfect, also this dish has no cheese in it, only a thick creamy custard! It goes well with salad, and tastes great cold too, a perfect pot luck dish. I baked it in my new Samsung Range :)

Here's my original post for some more details





Macarona Bachamel

Ingredients:

Part 1 - Sauce:

2 tbsp oil

1 lb ground beef

4 tbsp tomato paste (or 3/4 small can)

Salt & black pepper

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Water

In a pot heat the oil and brown the meat, season it with salt & pepper. Add the cinnamon. Stir in the tomato paste and brown it a bit to remove the raw taste. Add enough boiled water to make a sauce like consistency.

Cover and simmer on low for 15-20 mins.

Set aside.

Part 2 - Boiling pasta:

In another pot or the same pot, remove the meat sauce and bring water to a boil.

Add salt.

Boil 3/4 standard package of large pasta (penne or tubes, something big)

Once they are cooked, strain and rinse with cold water to cool them down a bit.

In the meantime prepare a casserole or deep baking dish.

Layer a teeny bit of sauce on the bottom just so the pasta doesn't stick (I removed a bit of the oily off the top of the sauce for this)

Divide the boiled pasta in half, the first half goes into the pan nice and evenly.

Now top with all the sauce you made, nice and evenly.

The last batch of pasta goes over the sauce in an even layer.

Set the casserole aside for now.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 375-400 F.

Part 3 - Bechamel Sauce:

- Approximately 4 tbsp butter

- Approximately 1/3 cup flour

- Approximately 4 cups milk

- 1 egg

- half a tsp salt

-1/8 tsp nutmeg

In the same pot (cleaned or wiped up) or another pot melt the butter on medium high heat, add the flour and blend it to make a roux. Cook it until it bubbles stirring well so it doesn't burn and immediately add milk (it could be warmed or cold, it works either way)

Stir and stir until it thickens, once it's thick enough to coat the back of a spoon or kinda like warm pudding or custard consistency then remove off the heat.

Add the nutmeg, a dash of salt and while whisking quickly drop the egg you had previously cracked into a bowl and whisk it up really well to incorporate into the sauce. You must do this quickly as the sauce is hot and you don't want the egg to cook in large pieces once it hits the cream sauce so whisk it well.

Pour the cream sauce all over the top of the pasta in the baking dish.

Part 4 - Baking:

Now bake in the preheated oven for 30 mins or until top is browned. After 30 mins if the top isn't browned set it on broil and watch it, it will develop dark brown blisters and then remove it immediately.

Wait for it to cool down before serving as it tastes better that way, also makes GREAT leftovers!! Tastes even better the next day.

Luqmat al Qadi - Arabic Yeast Donuts

Simple Syrup:

2 cups water

2 cups sugar

Squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Mix all in a small pot and bring to a boil, remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Luqmat Al Qadi

-4 cups flour

-3 cups water

-1 tsp yeast (active dry) dissolved in 1 tbsp warm water

-Pinch of salt

-Oil for frying.

Mix all really well.

Let sit at room temperature for 3 hours.

When ready to fry heat oil.

Mix batter fast to release the gas bubbles.

Drop spoon fulls into the the hot oil and turn them to brown evenly on all sides.

Immediately use slotted spoon to remove and drain on paper towel.

Drop them straight into the syrup and let them get coated well and then remove and present on platter.

Recipe will make twice what is seen in the photos, meaning 4 plates. I suggest halving it like I did.

If you find it difficult to drop the gooey dough into the oil fill a piping bag and push some through then cut it off with a scissors close to the oil to let the little balls fall into the oil.

I've attached an arabic video to show an interesting technique.

Tahini buns, Cinnamon buns & Sticky buns

I've finally perfected my cinnamon bun recipe.... and here it is!

Cinnamon buns

- 4 3/4 c flour or 5 cups
- 2 tsp instant yeast
- 6 1/2 tbsp sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 c softened butter
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 c very warm milk.
And zest or orange or lemon (optional)

Cream butter, add eggs, add mixed dry ingredients working the butter into the flour by hand
- Add warm milk, knead together until very smooth for 10 mins.

-Allow to double in size oiled and covered in a bowl, then roll out and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar (you can spread with butter first if you want)
-Roll it up and cut thick slices then arrange in a parchment lined pan and allow to double in size again.
-Bake at 350 for 20-30 mins.


For a delicious alternative, try the Tahini bun. Spread some tahini (middle eastern sesame paste) on the dough and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and bake. It's rather delicious and apparently a legit greek recipe.

Yum yum! ^_^

Stuffing and rolling dolma