Almond Crescent Cookies

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almond meal, butter cookies, Celebration cookies, Cookie, cookies, eid celebration cookies, how to make almond meal, Orange blossom water, refrigerator cookies, sugar cookies, sweets, tea time, ماء الزهر, بسكويت, بسكويت الزبده, حلويات العيد, طحين اللوز

A powder sugar-coated butter cookies loaded with nutty roasted almond made for special occasions.

Cookies are the one sweet treat that no one can pass up. Because they’re small, and easy to eat on the go, they’re the perfect snack anytime your sweet tooth starts nagging for a quick fix.
A classic holiday favorites, very easy to make, popular through out the world during celebrations. These crescents also make a welcome gift, just wrap and zip it in a decorative tin.

Very light and tasty cookies, combine between luxury creamy butter taste and nutty roasted almonds, scented perfectly with orange blossom water then decorated with copious amounts of confectioner sugar. Butter is essential to the exquisite texture and flavor, use good quality butter for better taste. For the crunch part, I used a home made almond meal, which adds more crunch than using the store bought one. The dough is refrigerated before it’s worked by hands into familiar half moon shapes.

How to make your own almond meal:
Almond meal is also called almond flour, which is just very finely ground almonds. It can be found at natural food stores and many supermarkets, it ‘s very expensive. You can make your own batch, but because it’s chopped not ground, the texture will be a bit rougher than almond flour and the cookies will have more rustic crunch.
to easily peel the almond: put it in small sauce pan, cover it with water and let boil. Once boiled, remove from heat, get rid off the hot water and cool it with cold water, then skin will peeled off easily once you rub it between your fingers.
If the recipe calls for roasted almond, then spread the peeled almond into one layer in a baking sheet, put it in preheated oven at 300 f, and let toast for 15 min, make sure to stir a couple of times to toast all over perfectly. Let cool completely.
Using food processor, add the almond with 1 tablespoon flour (using 1 tablespoon from flour in the recipe). process until the almond are finely chopped. The addition of flour will act as a buffer and keeps the almond from turning into butter.

Almond Crescent Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup icing/powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon orange blossom water
• dash of salt
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup raw unsalted almonds, peeled, roasted, then finely ground
• icing/powdered sugar to taste for dusting

Directions:
1- Cream the butter and sugar.
2- Mix in the orange blossom water followed by the flour and then the roasted cnuts.
3- Chill the plastic wrap dough in the fridge for at least 2 h.

4- Shape 1 tablespoon of dough at a time into crescent moons and place them on a baking sheet one inch apart from each other.

5- Bake in a preheated 350F oven until they just start to lightly brown, about 12-15 minutes.

6- Sift the icing sugar over while cookies still warm.

بسكويت اللوز

١ كوب زبده بحرارة الغرفه
١/٢ كوب سكر بودره
١ م ص ماء زهر
رشة ملح
٢ كوب طحين
١ كوب لوب مقشر ومحمص ومطحون
سكر بودره للوجه

طريقة اللوز المطحون
نضع اللوز الني بطنجره صغيره ونغمره بالماء ونتركه يغلي
نطفي عليه ونزيل الماء ونبرده بماء بارد
باطراف الاصابع نضغط عليه لنزيل القشور
هذه اسهل طريقه لازالة القشور عن جميع انواع المكسرات
نحمص اللوز المقشر بالفرن طبعا حسب ما تقتضيه الوصفه لان هناك وصفات تتطلب لوز ني
نضعه بصينيه الفرن ونحمصه على ٣٠٠ ف لمدة ١/٤ س ونقلبه عدة مرات ليتحمص من جميع الجوانب ونتركه يبرد تماما
في محضرة الطعام نطحن اللوز مع اضافة ملعقه واحده من الطحين المستعمل للوصفه
سيكون قوامه من ناعم لخشن نوعا ما
اضافة الطحين حتى لا يتحول اللوز عن الطحن الى زبده

لعمل البسكويت
نخفق الزبده والسكر حتى يصبح متل الكريمه نضيف ماء الزهر والطحين والملح واللوز المطحون
نعجنه مع بعض ونغلفه ونحفظه بالتلاجه على الاقل لمدة ٢ س او طوال الليل
نقطع العجين الى قطع بحجم ١ م ك ونشكلها على شكل هلال ونصفها بالصينيه ونضعها بفرن محمى مسبقا على ٣٥٠ ف لمدة تقريبا ١٥ د
نخرجها من الفرن ونضعها بالسكر البودره والبسكويتات دافئه

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My Ultimate Spiced Date Ring Cookies “Ka’ak Bl Ajwa”

Tags

cookies, date-filled cookies, desserts, easter cookies, eid celebration cookies, ka'ak, middle eastern, spiced cookies, كعك, كعك العيد, كعك بالعجوه, بسكويت, بسكويت بالبهارات, حلويات

These are a traditional cookies made on the Eid and Easter holidays in all middle eastern families, and they are really addicting! A little time-consuming but so worth it.
The name in arabic is “Ka’ak Bl Ajwa“, or “The Ring Ka’ak” , “The bracelet Ka’ak“, while others called it “The Easter Ka’ak“. But the names doesn’t matter as it all refers to a very delicious and special cookies. “Ajwa” is the other name of date paste in arabic.

I like to make these cookies to my family more than any cookie recipe, these are not like any cookies. The nutrients loaded in with the uses of multiple seeds and spices, the milk, semolina, the date filling, make these cookies most nutritious for kids to enjoy as a snack or even as a healthy desserts. you can also make it more healthy and cholesterol free by using olive oil only. Enjoy these cookies with a warm cup of milk or hot tea in the evening or in the morning with your coffee.

My recipe passed from my grand mom to my aunt whom she always make it once she visits us, and whom she learnt me how to make it. My husband’s addiction to these cookies let me wants to try to make it by myself when my aunt can’t come.
Although, it looks very hard and time-consuming to make these cookies, but the beautiful aroma of spices that you can’t resist, make these cookies your greatest and really makes you want to try it again and again.

It’s part of the tradition when making these cookies, that is to me like something dreamy that always takes me in dreams to those days, where I can remember all the women in my family gather around to make these cookies in large amounts, then they share the cookies between them. It’s not all about the joy in making these cookies themselves, but the good times they also share. Their stories that each woman could tell. And their everyday life. Their joys, giggles, besides their problems and complains. To me now, these days is like fairy tales that told by our grands which take me to another world of dreaming, to the most beautiful days I ever lived, my childhood.

Some important tips to make these cookies more successful:

• You have the choice to not to do the first step and omit the addition of semolina, that makes it flour only cookies, and in this case you need to use 2 & 1\4 cups of shortening, any of your choice, and the process is faster that you mix the dough and make the cookies in one day.
• For the use of shortening, I sometimes use butter and olive oil only, or you can use butter only, even the traditional way is to use the olive oil only with 1 tbsp ghee for the flavour.
• The dough should be pliable not dry throughout.
• The proving time is vital to the required results, as it ensures the texture of the cookies is light yet perfectly combined.
• The date paste should be soft and not sticky.
• You can pinch the rings with a cookie tweezer to decorate it, also you can sprinkle some icing sugar on the top after baking and cooling.
• The oven temperature is as important as the position of the tray in the oven, watch the cookies through the glass oven while baking.
• Don’t over bake the cookies as they become hard quickly – watch for that light golden colour.
• The cookies can be stored for at least 3 weeks in an airtight tin or plastic container.
• “Practice makes perfect”: remember this saying if your first attempt is not to the required standard. The making of these cookies is very therapeutic once the techniques is mastered. Be patient.

Spiced Date Ring Cookies ‘Ka’ak Bl Ajwa”

recipe makes around 100 cookies

2 cups(0.75 lb)(340 gm) semolina
8 cups(2.20 lb)(1000 gm)(1 kg) all-purpose flour
3 cups shortening (softened butter, ghee, or oil) preferable if third butter(soft), third ghee or Crisco (melted), and third olive oil
1\2 cup(115 gm)(4 oz) icing  sugar
1\2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1\2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp Mahlab , ground (black cherry kernels) (available at Middle Eastern stores)
1\2 tsp gum arabic, ground (Arabic miska)
1\2 tsp cardamom
1 tbsp black Nigella seeds – the black seed
3 tbsp sesame seeds
1\4 cup dried milk powder
2 tbsp ground anis seeds plus 1 tbsp whole seed
2 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp baking powder(use only baking powder if you like it to crunch otherwise you can add 1\2 tsp dry yeast with 3 tbsp warm water and 1 tbsp sugar, this will make it less crunchy)
1\4 cup of rose-water + orange blossoms
about 1 cup tap water or you can use milk if you don’t like the dried

Directions:
First day:
In a large bowl, add the semolina and the melted ghee or shortening (Crisco is a good choice, I always prefere to use it), mix. Cover and leave for ten hours, or overnight.

Next day:
Measure flour and spices (all the dry ingredient except the liquids) in  the soaked semolina bowl. Add the softened butter and the olive oil mix (you can use corn oil).

Stirring well so that the flour mix soaks the butter, rub with your fingertips. Continue rubbing but not kneading for at least 15 min, this is an important step to get the crunch of the cookies.
Rest for 30 minutes, the mix will be crumbly.
Dissolve the yeast (if you want to use it) in 2 tablespoons water and a dash of sugar. When it rises, add to semolina flour mixture.

Add the rose-water and orange blossom, gradually add the warm water and start kneading to make a soft pliable dough.
Test the dough if it’s ready, take a small piece, knead it in your hands to soften, shape it into a rope and pend it and inclose the two ends to make a ring, if get kracked easily then the dough is dry or it need more kneeding, if the dough looks smooth, then it’s ready. Rest the dough for 1\2 hour .

Prepare the baking sheets, set aside. Using a cutting board (I use a rough surface cutting board, this will make it easy to roll the dough). Take a piece of the dough into walnut size ball, kneed it in your fingers first. And a piece of date filling, roll it into a ball smaller than the dough. Roll each ball into a rope. Flatten the dough with your hand and shape it into a long rectangle. Take the date rope and place it directly on the dough. Seal the dough ends around the date paste to enclose. Roll out the log on the cutting board with the bottom of your palm, back and forth until it thins out to your liking. Cut the rope into individual cookies, each about 4 inches long.

Rest the cookie on the baking sheets leaving small space between them. Bake at 400 degrees in a preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until light gold.

For the date paste:

For this amount of dough you will need:
3 bags of pitted date paste (you can find it from any middle eastern store), or you can use whole date then take off the pitts and either work it with your hand or put it in a food processor to make like a paste.
Add to it:
1 tsp cinnamom
1\2 tsp nutmeg
1\2 tsp cardamom
1\4 cup oil or ghee or soft butter

Mix the paste to combine the spices and the shortening, kneed it well in your hands to soften the dates. You can use the food processor to make it more malleable