AI-generated image
Chebakia
Sesame honey flower cookies
Ramadan's sesame flower cookies, fried and soaked in honey with orange blossom
Chebakia are the dark, sticky, flower-shaped cookies that every Moroccan family associates with Ramadan; women in Fez, Meknes and Casablanca spend a whole day in the weeks before the holy month folding hundreds of them, and they are served at iftar with harira and dates. The dough is scented with anise, cinnamon, saffron and toasted sesame, cut into rectangles, folded into a rose, fried and dropped straight into hot, perfumed honey. They are crisp, chewy and very sweet. Chef's tip: work in small batches and keep the honey hot but not boiling; hot honey soaks in properly, while cool honey just coats the outside.
- Total time
- 120 min
- Difficulty
- hard
- Serves
- 24
Ingredients
For the dough
- 7 oz sesame seedstoasted, plus extra to finish
- 1 ⅛ lb plain flour
- 1 tbsp ground anise
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch saffron threadssoaked in 3 tbsp warm orange blossom water
- ½ tsp instant yeast
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 ⅛ oz buttermelted
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp white vinegar
- ½ cup waterapproximately
For frying and soaking
- 1 litre vegetable oilfor frying
- 1 ¾ lb honey
- 2 tbsp orange blossom water
- 1 ¾ oz toasted sesame seedsfor sprinkling
Shop this recipe on Amazon
What you'll need
Spices & pantry
Fresh ingredients (2)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/9 doneStep 1: Grind 7 oz sesame seeds in a food processor until it starts to clump and smell nutty, like coarse sesame paste.
3 minStep 2: Mix in a large bowl with 1 ⅛ lb plain flour, 1 tbsp ground anise, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, ½ tsp instant yeast and ½ tsp salt. Add 1 pinch saffron threads and its liquid, 2 ⅛ oz butter, ¼ cup vegetable oil and 2 tbsp white vinegar, then work in ½ cup water a little at a time until you have a firm, smooth dough, stiffer than bread dough.
5 minStep 3: Knead for 10 minutes until it is smooth and no longer crumbly. Wrap and rest for 15 minutes.
25 minStep 4: Roll a quarter of the dough on a lightly floured surface until 2–3 mm thick. Cut into rectangles about 7 x 9 cm, then make 4 parallel cuts along the length of each, stopping 1 cm from each end, so it looks like a little ladder.
Step 5: Thread the middle finger of one hand through alternate strips (1st, 3rd and 5th). With the other hand, pinch the two ends and pull them down, turning the strips inside out to make a rose. Press the corners together. Shape all the dough, keeping finished ones covered.
Step 6: Warm 1 ¾ lb honey with 2 tbsp orange blossom water in a wide pan over a low heat until very runny and hot, but not bubbling.
5 minStep 7: Heat 1 litre vegetable oil in a deep pan to 325°F. Fry the chebakia in batches of 6–8 for 6–8 minutes, turning, until they are a deep reddish-brown and stop bubbling furiously. Pale chebakia are the common mistake: they turn soft and floppy in the honey.
40 minStep 8: Lift the fried cookies straight into the hot honey and leave for 5–7 minutes, turning, until they have darkened and look glossy.
6 minStep 9: Lift them onto a sieve to drain, sprinkle immediately with 1 ¾ oz toasted sesame seeds, then spread on a tray to cool and set. Store in an airtight tin for up to 3 weeks.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 190 kcal
- Protein
- 3 g
- Carbs
- 26 g
- Fat
- 9 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does chebakia take?
- About 120 minutes in total: 60 minutes to prepare and 60 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 24 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- What can I use instead of sesame seeds?
- Poppy seeds or finely chopped pumpkin seeds, same amount.
- What can I use instead of plain flour?
- Self-raising flour, same amount (then leave out the baking powder).
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Kartoshka cakeCocoa and cake crumb truffles
Soviet cafés and school canteens sold these knobbly brown 'potatoes' for a few kopecks, and they began as a thrifty way to use up sponge and biscuit trimmings at the bakery. Crumbs are bound with butter and sweetened condensed milk, flavoured with cocoa and vanilla, shaped into little potatoes, rolled in cocoa and finished with two dabs of pale butter cream for the sprouts. They are fudgy and dense like a brownie truffle, need no oven, and children love making them. Traditional bakers added a spoonful of rum, an optional extra for adult batches only; this version is alcohol-free with vanilla. The usual slip is coarse crumbs, which make the potatoes crack, so blitz them as fine as sand. Chef's tip: chill the shaped potatoes for at least 20 minutes so they hold their shape and slice cleanly.
Russian
Undu walaluFried urad dal rings in treacle
Walalu means bangles, and these dark, sticky rings of fried urad dal soaked in kithul treacle are a sweet that Sinhala families bring out for Avurudu and for special almsgivings, often made in large batches by an aunt known for her steady hand. A thick, fluffy paste of ground black gram is piped into loops and fried until crisp, then plunged straight into warm treacle, so the rings stay crunchy on the outside while drinking up the syrup. They taste a little like a darker, smokier jalebi, with a toffee finish from the palm treacle. Watery batter is what ruins them; it spreads into flat blobs, so grind the soaked dal with as little water as possible and beat it until light. This recipe uses no asafoetida, so it is naturally gluten free. Chef's tip: pipe the rings onto small squares of baking paper and lower them into the oil paper and all; the paper peels away in seconds.
Sri Lankan
MarquesitasCheese and cajeta crepes
Evening in Mérida's Plaza Grande means the smell of marquesitas: thin batter pressed in hot hinged irons until crisp, then rolled like a cigar around grated Edam cheese and a sweet filling such as cajeta, chocolate-hazelnut spread or jam. Edam came to the Yucatán through the port trade with the Netherlands and became part of the local cooking, and the salty-sweet combination is the whole point. At home you can cook them in a thin, wide frying pan. Edam is usually made with animal rennet, so check the label or use a vegetarian Gouda-style cheese. Chef's tip: roll while the crêpe is still in the pan and hot; within seconds it hardens and will crack.
Mexican