Halwa Shebakia
(Ramadhan Special Sesame Cookies)
This recipe is frankly for historical purposes as its yield indicates
suitability for commercial or restaurant production rather than home baking.
With unusual proportions of butter, oil and honey in the batter, yeast for
rising and more oil for frying, making the cookies would be rather daunting
were it not for the fact that they help glorify a particularly holy
celebration.
-
- 4 lbs flour
- 3 lbs butter
- 2 lbs sesame seeds; plus additional toasted seeds for sprinklng
- 1 Tbs dry yeast dissolved in 1/2 cup water
- 20 g gum arabic; optional
- 1 Tbs saffron stamens
- 1/2 lb smen; seasoned butter
- 1 Tbs cinnamon, ground
- 1 qt vegetable oil
- 1 qt vegetable oil; for frying
- 10 lbs honey
- In a food processor process all the ingredients, except the honey,
into a paste.
- Take a walnut-sized piece of paste and roll it out very thin. Using
a metal cut-out typically found in Morocco, with different designs, cut
out cookies and let them rise for 15 minutes. Deep-fry the cookies in
the remaining quart of oil in batches over low heat just to brown.
- Soak the cookies in the honey for 15 minutes. Remove and sprinkle
with toasted sesame seeds.
Makes several hundred cookies.
From "The Great Book of Couscous" by Copeland Marks
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