The Twitchin Kitchen - Desserts & Sweets

Almond Fingers

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 19:51:32 -0500

These are light and delicious and perfect with tea or coffee.
They are extremely easy to make. They feature in medieval manuscripts as "lauzinaj", which were fried and sprinkled with syrup, rose water, and chopped pistachios. In North Africa, they are deep fried, but we always baked them.

Assabih bi Loz
Almond Fingers

Preheat oven to 325º F

ingredients:[/i]

2 1/3 cups ground almonds
1/2 cup superine sugar, or to taste
3 Tbsp. orange blossom water
1/2 pound fillo pastry sheets
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted (one stick)
Confectioner's sugar to sprinkle on top

Mix the ground almonds with the sugar and orange blossom water.

Cut the sheets of fillo into 4 rectangular strip about 12" x 4". Don't worry about precise measurements of the sheets as it's not very important.
Pile them on top of each other so that they do not dry out. Brush the top one lightly with melted butter.

Put 1 heaping teaspoon of the almond mixture at one end of each rectangle, or take a small lump and press it into a little "sausage" in your hand. Roll up into a small "cigar" shape, folding the longer sices slightly over the filling midway. (See the drawing)

Place on a buttered baking sheet and bake in at 325º F for 30 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

Serve cold sprinkled with some confectioner's sugar.

Variations:Try other fillings!
ground pistachios flavored the same with with sugar and orange blossom water
ground walknuts mixed with sugar and either a tablespoon of ground cinnamon or the grates zest of an orange and 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice

* You may deep fry the pastries instead of baking them, in not very hot oil and for only a very short time, until lightly colored brown. Drain on paper towels and dust with confectioners' sugar.

Serve hot or cold if fried.

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Almond or Pistachio Balls ~ Middle East

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:29:17 -0500

I made these over the holidays and they are absolutely exquisite! Nothing like you've ever tasted before and if you want to impress for a fancy meal, having these as part of the dessert course will leave a lasting impression for sure! I used pistachios for my cookies but do check the variations at the end for more suggestions.

Orass bi Loz
Almond Balls

Makes 22-24 balls

TIP: this recipe calls for superfine sugar. It's nearly impossible to find this by me for some reason so I made my own. Just put regular sugar in a food processor and have it spin for a short while.

Ingredients:

2 cups ground almonds (or pistachios - see variations) - grind them fine
1 cup superfine sugar
1 or 2 drops almond extract (OPTIONAL - don't use if using pistachios)
About 3 Tbsp rose or orange blossom water
12 blanched almonds or pistachio nuts to garnish (optional)
Confectioners sugar to roll the balls in at the end

Mis the ground almonds and sugar in a bowl.
Add the almond extract if you wish (I much prefer without), and rose or orange blossom water and work together with your hands. The mixture will seem dry at first, but the almonds (or other nuts) will release enough oil to bind the mixture.
Knead to a doughy paste.

Shape into 1 inch balls (about the size of a large marble) and roll in confectioners sugar. Place in small paper cups or on a plate and if you like, place a split almond or pistachio on top to decorate.

Variations:

Instead of 1 cup superfine sugar use 2 cups confectioners sugar.
Do the same recipe with ground pistachio nuts instead of almonds and stick a whole pistachio on top. These green balls are exquisite!
Stuff the almond balls with chopped pistachios. This is really superb. Make a little hole in each almond ball with your finger and fill it with chopped pistachios mixed with sugar. Close the hole over and shape into a ball again. Roll the balls in confectioners sugar and place them in small paper cups. Decorate the top of each with a whole or half pistachio which has been stripped of its skin to make its "greenness" stand out.
In Iraq, almond paste, colored yellow with moistened saffron powder, is flattened in a tray and cut into small shapes and covered with gold-leaf paper. Thus adorned it is sent to friends by a bride's family to celebrate her wedding. Exquisite!

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Kurabiye ~ Turkey

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:32:17 -0400

These are wonderful cookies that are delicious dunked in coffee.

Kurabiye

Preheat the oven to 375° F

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter, room temp.
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
2 eggs, room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder

Glaze:
1 egg yolk whisked with 1 tsp water

Cream the powdered sugar and vanilla with butter.
Add the eggs and mix then slowly add the flour and baking powder. Make sure everything is well mixed.

The dough should be soft.

Divide the dough in 16-18 pieces.

First roll each piece into a long stick (about a foot long) and then lift and wind into some kind of braid. This is easy to do - Take the 'stick' and lift it by each end, gently - then let the middle fall onto the surface and twist the ends one over the other.
As you get the knack for manipulating dough, you'll soon be doing this with a flick of the wrist!

Put parchment paper on an oven tray and arrange the cookies on it.
Egg wash the tops, then sprinkle some *sesame seeds on the tops. (sesame seeds optional)

Bake for about 25 minutes or until the tops take a golden color.
Place on a wire rack to cool down.

These remind me of the cookies we would get as kids in the Arab grocery when they came in fresh.

Makes 16-18 Kurabiye

Edit 6/17/2010: I baked these again today and swapped out the image I nicked off the internet with my own cookies.

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Arabian Shortbread (butter cookies)

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 13:10:57 -0400

OK so today I started on Shortbread and when browsing through my recipe books I came across the photo below and saw those lovely little diamond shape cookies with the pistaccio on top!
I remember these from my childhood!
I had no idea the Arabs made shortbread but I certainly do remember eating these! These cookies literally melt in your mouth and are light and so delicious. They do taste very similar to traditional shortbread as we know it but are much lighter.

I now have a hankering for these and I just might make some tonight and take a picture for you all.

*preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Your oven must be temperature accurate. Adjust as needed*

Arabian Shortbread
Ghurayba

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups butter ( 3 sticks UNSALTED!)
1 1/4 cups confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon orange blossom water (mazahar) * can be omitted if you can't find
1 egg yolk
3 cups flour
40 or so shelled pistaccios or blanched almonds

Place the butter, 1 1/2 cups of the confectioner's sugar, the orange blossom water and the egg yolk in a blender, then blend for 1 minute. Transfer to a mixing bowl then gradually add the flour while mixing with your fingers until a smooth dough is formed. form the dough into balls a little smaller than a walnut then place on an ungreased cookie sheet and flatten slightly to about 1/4 inch thickness.

Press a pistaccio (or almond) on each piecs and bake in a 300°F oven for 20 minutes or the bottoms start to turn a light brown and allow to cool. Then sprinkle with the remaining confectioner's sugar.

Note: the cookies may feel soft at the end of baking time but will harden as they cool.

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Baklawa (baklava)

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 15:52:59 -0400

This is mostly known in America being made with walnuts but my family always made it with pistachios.

This is one of the many wonderful desserts common in Middle Eastern and Greek homes and restaurants.

You will need to find a shop that sells rose water or orange blossom water for this.

Baklawa

makes about 50 pieces ~ The finest quality sheets of fillo should be used for good baklawa.

Ingredients:

syrup:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoons orange-blossom or rose-water
1 pound fillo (about 24 sheets)
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter (I always wind up using almost 4 sticks!)
3 - 3 1/2 cups (1 pound) unsalted pistachio nuts or walnuts, ground medium-fine (weight is after shelling!)

Prepare the syrup first. Dissolve the sugar in the water with the lemon juice and simmer a few minutes, until it thickens enough to coat a spoon when dipped.
Add orange-blossom or rose-water and simmer for 1/2 minute. Allow to cool, then chill in the refrigerator.

In a greased baking pan, a little smaller than the sheets of fillo, lay half the sheets, one at a time, brushing each with melted butter and letting the edges come up the sides of the tray or overhang.

Spread the nuts evenly over the sheets then cover with the remaining sheets, brushing each, including the top one with melted butter. With a very sharp knive, cut diagonal parallel lines 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart into diamond shapes right through to the bottom

Bake the pastry in a preheated 350°F oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until it is 'puffed up' and golden colored.
Remove from the oven and pour the cold syrup over the hot baklawa along the slashed lines. The amount of syrup called for is the usual one. If you prefer to use less, pour on three-quarters or half the mount and let people help themselves to more if they wish.

When cool and ready to serve, cut the pieces of pastry again and lift them out one by one onto a serving dish.

Variations:

use vegetable oil instead of butter if you like
Lul-wa-shkur (eat and thank) is filled with ground blanched almonds mixed with half their weight in sugar. In this case, use half the amount of syrup.
In Iraq and Iran, they flavor the almond with 1 Tbsp ground cardamom. Sometimes the amount of filling goes up to 2 pounds of almonds
In Greece, the stir a spoonful or two of honey into the syrup.
When using walnuts, you can mix 2 tsp cinnamon into the filling
For a cream-filled Turkish version, bring to a boil 3 1/2 cups milk.
Mix 1/2 cup rice flour with 1/2 cup cold milk to a paste.
Add this to the boiling milk, stirring vigorously, and continue to cook over very low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens. Simmer for about 15 mins adding about 1/3 cup sugar towrd the end. Let it cool before using as a filling instead of nuts.

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