Ka Ak Bi Ajwa Date Ring Cookies Palestinian Middle Eastern Recipes

KA'AK BI AJWA (DATE RING COOKIES) PALESTINIAN, MIDDLE EASTERN

Steps:

• Mix smeed, flour, salt, sugar, and butter/oil in a large pan. Cover and leave for ten hours, or overnight.
• Dissolve the yeast in 2 tablespoons water and a dash of sugar. When it rises, add to smeed mixture.
• Dissolve mahlab and miska in cold water. Add to smeed mixture.
• Combine warm water and milk. Pour gradually while mixing all the ingredients together. (Do not knead, just stir the mixture to have a moist crust rather than a dough).
• Mix dates, nutmeg, cinnamon, and butter in a pan and warm to soften dates. Knead well.
• Roll dates in 1/3 inch thick balls. Cut a piece of dough, one at a time, the size of a walnut. Spread lengthwise, 4" by 1". Fill with date ball and roll, sealing the sides together to form a ring.
• Pinch the rings with a cookie tweezer to decorate (so powder sugar will stick to it). Place on baking sheets and bake at 400 degrees in a preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until light gold. (Place baking sheet on top rack).
• *NOTE* This is one way to do it, but I also take a round piece of dough, slightly bigger than the date ball, and push my thumb in it, then place the date ball inside and spread the dough around the date ball completely covering it. Then using a ma'amool cookie mold I place the dough with the date inside in the mold and tap the mold upside down so the finished cookie will fall out. Baking instructions are the same for either variation!
• When cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar. When completely cool, freeze or store in tightly covered jars.

MA'AMOUL (LEBANESE DATE COOKIES)

Steps:

• Mix semolina flour, all-purpose flour, mahlab, and salt together in a large bowl. Work clarified butter into the dry ingredients with your fingertips until thoroughly incorporated. Cover bowl and let dough rest at room temperature, 8 hours to overnight.
• Pour milk into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave until just warm, about 15 seconds. Stir in sugar and yeast until dissolved. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
• Pour yeast mixture and orange blossom water over the dough and mix until evenly moistened. Pinch off a piece of dough and roll into a ball; it should hold its shape without cracking. Add more milk or orange blossom water if needed. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
• Sprinkle some flour over the ma'amoul molds and tap out the excess. Pinch off a walnut-sized piece of dough and roll into a ball. Press your thumb into the ball to create space for the filling. Work the edges with your fingers so the sides are even and fairly thin. Drop in a piece of date paste and pinch dough over it to seal.
• Place cookie into the mold cavity seam-side up. Press down so that the top is flush with edges of the mold. Trim off any excess dough. Invert the mold and tap it against your work surface to release the cookie. Repeat with remaining dough and date paste, arranging cookies 1 inch apart on the baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven, 1 baking sheet at a time, until edges and bottoms are golden but tops are still mostly pale, about 15 minutes.
• Sift powdered sugar over the cookies while still slightly warm. Let cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

PALESTINIAN SESAME CRUSTED BREAD RINGS (KA'AK BIL SIMSIM)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 f.
• Mix the warm water, sugar and yeast in the bowl of a mixer and mix gently.
• Let sit for 10 minutes or until yeast foams doubles in size.
• Once the yeast is ready, add the vegetable oil and milk to the mixing bowl and mix on low speed.
• Sift the flour and the salt together then, slowly, add it one spoonful at a time, to the liquids, while the mixer is turned on low.
• Mix until all the flour is incorporated, then turn off the mixer immediately.
• Do not overwork the dough.
• Dust your hands with flour, and remove the dough from the mixing bowl.
• The dough will be very sticky, but do your best to form it into a ball and move it to a clean, flour-lined bowl.
• Cover the dough-filled bowl with a towel and let sit in a warm spot for 30-40 minutes.
• The dough will double in size.
• Punch it down and remove it from the bowl.
• It's consistency will have softened and it won't be as sticky.
• Sprinkle flour on a working surface.
• Place the dough over the flour. Knead the dough for 5 minutes.
• Roll out each piece into a long log and form into a ring.
• Brush the rings with egg wash on all sides and roll in sesame seeds.
• Place the ring a sheet pan.
• Put an oven-proof pot of boiling water in the oven, underneath the bread. Cook for about 25 minutes, or until the bread turns a light brown color.
• Remove and place on a rack to cool.
• OPTION: You can skip the long detailed instructions from #2 to #15 if you make the dough in a bread machine.

EGYPTIAN HOLIDAY COOKIES (KACH AL AYID)

Steps:

• Prepare starter 30 minutes in advance. In a small mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water. Stir in the flour, salt and sugar and let stand until the mixture doubles in bulk and produces air bubbles.
• Meanwhile, to make the dough, melt the butter in a small saucepan and let it cool.
• Dough can be made by hand or in a food processor. To make it by hand, put the flour in a mixing bowl and make a well in the center. Pour the butter into the well and add the starter, rosewater and vanilla. Stir to blend. Rub the mixture between the palms of the hands until it resembles coarse cornmeal. Add lukewarm water a little at a time until the dough can be gathered together to form a ball. Use as little water as possible. Knead the dough until it is smooth and even in texture. To make dough in a food processor, put the flour into the container of the processor and add the butter, starter, rosewater and vanilla while blending. If necessary, add lukewarm water, a little at a time, until the dough can be shaped into a ball and kneaded briefly. If the dough is too soft, it may be necessary to chill it briefly. If you overchill, let it rest at room temperature until it can be shaped by hand.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Divide the dough into 24 pieces of more or less equal size. Shape each piece into a ball.
• If you do not wish to use a filling, transfer the pieces of dough to a cookie sheet and flatten them into a cookie shape about half an inch thick or slightly thicker. Or if you use the filling, punch a hole partly down the center of each ball of dough. Shape the dough into a slightly curved saucer shape and put about one teaspoon or less of filling in the middle of the dough. Fold over the edges and seal. Place the dough, sealed side down, on the cookie sheet and press with the palms of the hands to flatten each into a cookie shape.
• Place the cookie sheet on the top rack of the oven and bake cookies 35 to 40 minutes. When done, cookies should have an even, golden color and the firmness of a cooked pie crust. Let cookies cool completely. Cover the top and sides of each one with a generous dusting of confectioners' sugar. If you plan to store the cookies, do not frost with confectioners' sugar until the day you use them.