Ramadan Feast) cookies! These have a fabulously fine crumb and delicate texture that dissolves in the mouth. Filling variations included!
Aaaaaaand that’s a wrap!
Ramadan’s Middle Eastern Dessert palooza has
come to an end and we’re sealing it with Eid Cookies! So roll up your sleeves people because we’re about to get covered in powdered sugar!
Let’s back up a little for those of you who’re lost
here.
Eid (in this case Eid Al Fitr) is the feast holiday that marks the end of Ramadan. Because after a month-long of fasting, you bet we’re going to be feasting.
Eid El-Fitr celebrations last for 3 days, and it’s a
time where people exchange gifts, wear new clothes (aka the best excuse to go shopping ) and gather for… you guessed it…a feast.
And no Egyptian feast is complete without Kahk.
The lightly spiced crumbly cookie stuffed with sweet surprises and buried under copious amounts of powdered sugar.
Other than the return of my beloved cup of morning
coffee, there’s nothing I associate the arrival of Eid more than the arrival of these cookies at my house.
Families and friends have been gifting each other
with homemade and store-bought kahk since forever.
So as you could imagine, the calories consumed
during the three days of Eid make up for all those lost during the month’s fast.
Kahk is believed to date back in Egypt to the 10th
century, when palace kitchens made special cookies stuffed with gold coins and distributed them to the poor. Things have gone downhill ever since and we’ve been getting nuts and gooey honey filling instead of gold coins, but whatever… they’re still great!
But as much as they are delicious, Kahk is more
about the essence of the celebration than about anything else. It is more of an event; an informal ritual that Egyptian families look forward to, than just a mere cookie that we love to gobble up. The process of making them is rarely a one-man show, but a chance for families to gather around baking trays and share stories and laughs over the hours of preparation.
Kids take part in putting their artistic touches by
stamping their designs and filling the cookies, while grownups take over the baking part.
Ofcourse, every household has its own unique
recipe that they treasure, but the basics remain the same. Kahk is a type of buttery sugar cookie with a sandy texture and mildly aromatic flavor. The cookies themselves are barely sweet, making way for more sweetness in the form of fillings and powdered sugar coating. In term of looks, they are comparable to Mexican Wedding Cookies and Snowballs. I have a feeling, the texture is similar too. Gotta try them to be sure:)
Kahk have these signature prints on top that are
plain fun to make with special stampers, but also acts as a label to the different types of fillings. They also help the powdered sugar adhere to the surface.
Kahk can have so many different fillings or can be
left plain. Ofcourse it doesn’t come as a surprise that the kiddos will only have them plain or they’re not eating any.
The most popular filling by far is the Agameya (my
favorite!) . It’s a cooked mixture of ghee, honey, sesame seeds and optional nuts; most often walnuts. It’s sweet and gooey and irresistible. Kahk can also be stuffed with Turkish delight (malban), sticky sweet date paste (agwa) or plain nuts like walnuts and pistachios.
Though made from very simple ingredients,
Agameya can be a little tricky to make. If its runny, it will ooze out of the cookies as they bake, and if its too hard, it will stick to your teeth and ruin your kahk experience. Trust me, I’ve had my fair share of both extremes, but I was finally able to settle on the right ratio of ingredients, paired with the perfect cooking period to produce a Agameya that is perfectly malleable and oh-so-delcious.
Now before we begin making our cookies, its a
good idea to get all our fillings portioned and ready to go.
No wait… before we get elbow deep into making
them, I need to tell you about this recipe in particular. I don’t mean to brag, but it makes the best kahk I’ve ever tasted. It is THE recipe you want in your life!
Believe it or not, I was never into kahk in the first
place until last year. I mean they’ve always tasted ok to me, but they were never something I’d crave or would waste calories on. I’ve always had some reservations about their coarse texture and lack of sweetness in the cookie itself.
I just enjoyed their presence and the joy they
brought , but never the eating part. Until my sister- in-law got me a box of Kahk from Le Carnaval; one of Cairo’s finest high-end patisseries. One bite of their melt-in-the-mouth cookies was able to change my mind about Kahk. They were all of a sudden… cravable. I quickly became so consumed with finding a recipe that measured up to Le Carnaval’s. And with the guidance of a pastry chef friend…I finally did! Yes, it took an entire year, but it was worth it.
Before we dive into details, here’s a quick glimpse
of how they come together to give you an idea.
Fabulous Kahk - • كحك العيدyal…
The lightly aromatic flavor of this kahk is on point
and part of it comes from the use of Kahk Essence (Reehet El Kahk). It is a special blend of spices, specifically made for Kahk, which gives it its distinctive flavor. If you can get your hands on some, awesome! If you can’t, you can always leave it out and still have great kahk, or you could refer to the substitutions in the ‘Notes’ section of the recipe at the end of the post.
The other ingredient that either makes or breaks
the flavor of these cookies, is ghee! Since A LOT goes into the dough, the flavor really comes through, so be sure to use the best quality you could find.
Here’s how you could make your own.
I don’t get why Kahk has a reputation for being
difficult to make. I mean… dry ingredients just get whisked together, then we dump in the ghee, mix until it becomes creamy and a smooth paste forms…
Then add in some milk. Mix in a little bit more until
a cohesive dough forms. And that’s it! Dough done.
Here comes my beloved mini ice cream scoop
again. My number 1 kitchen gadget! Perfect for portioning the cookies so they’re all the same size.
Then to fill, you’re going to roll the dough into a
ball, make an indentation using your thumb, stuff with your filling of choice, reroll to cover the filling then stamp.
Kids LOVE doing this part, so get them involved!
Stamp, stamp, stamp using the special kahk stamper or any stamper really.
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