Spicy Cookies from Hatay (Hatay Kömbesi)

 

 

 

 

 

These delicious, spicy cookies are traditionally made in the Hatay province right after Ramadan, during Şeker Bayramı which translates to “Sugar Feast”. Almost every household in Hatay region makes these cookies in very large amounts which usually involves friends, relatives and neighbors getting together to make them. They are either baked at home or at the local bakery. Trays and trays of kömbe are sent to local, wood-fired bakeries during this season and the delicious smell just swifts through the air in the neighborhoods. Some bakeries stay open all night to keep up with baking these cookies. During the “Sugar Feast”, people visit each other and these cookies are served for the guests.

 

In other regions of Turkey, “kömbe” is the name for a pie/börek, so it can get confusing for people who are not from the Hatay region.

When I was growing up and eating these cookies during the holidays, I didn’t care much for them as they were abundant during this season.  In the past 20 years that I have been here, I probably have eaten them only several times. Mainly when my mom would sneak them in my suitcase when returning to the U.S. after a visit or send them over with someone. Certainly, I have not had them the past 5-6 years at all. Recently, I saw them at a cousin’s Facebook page during the “Sugar Feast” and remembered them. Then, I craved them!  I called my mom and got her recipe for it as I never attempted to make it before. I followed my mom’s recipe, except I added milk. I have never seen my mom put any milk in them, but some recipes call for it. Some people also stuff them with dates, or walnuts. I am not fond of the stuffed version. Traditionally, these cookies have special wooden molds for them. Since I do not have these molds, I used my mini tart shells to make the molds. I also made round cookies, flat cookies and even animal shapes for my kids.

Several years ago, I had a reader named George who had been to Antakya/Hatay and had purchased these molds and asked me for a recipe where he could use these molds. I had promised that I’d post it some time, but never got to it. I am not sure if I did lose that reader as I have not been actively posting on my blog, but if you are reading George, here is the recipe!

7 cups white flour

16 oz butter

1 whole nutmeg

1 small stick cinnamon

12 cloves

7-8 small pieces of mastic

½ tsp mahleb grounded

1 ½ cup sugar

¼ cup olive oil

1 cup milk

Lots of sesame seeds

 

Grind the nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, mastic and mahleb. Combine them. The combination should amount to 1-2 tbsps depending on the desired strength of spices. Melt the butter. Add the sugar to the butter and mix until the sugar dissolves. Add the olive oil and milk and continue to mix. Add the spices and stir well.

Place the flour in a large bowl. Slowly add the butter, sugar, milk, olive oil and spice mixture. Mix until a dough forms.

 

Make walnut sized balls with the dough. Spread the sesame seeds in a flat plate.

 

 

 

For tartlet shell mold:

Take the ball and press one side onto the sesame plate.

 

 

 

 

Press into tartlet shell making sure the sesame part of the dough in the bottom.

 

 

 

 

Turn the tartlet shell upside down on the sesame place to coat the top of the cookie with sesame.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Place on a baking sheet.

 

For a flat cookie:

 

Take a ball and flatten with hands.

 

 

 

 

Cut with cookie cutter of your choice or a glass.

 

 

 

 

 

Coat both sides with sesame.

 

 

 

For circle shaped cookie:

Take a ball and start rolling back and forth to create a few inches long stick with the ball.

 

 

 

 

Roll the stick into the sesame plate.

 

 

 

 

Join the ends.

 

 

 

 

Place on the baking sheet.

Heat oven to 350 F° and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the cookies start to take a golden color.

 

Enjoy with hot Turkish tea.

Chestnut Cookies (Kestaneli Kurabiye)

In my opinion, fresh roasted chestnuts are irresistible and so are the sweets and desserts made with chestnuts. Roasted chestnuts are best when fresh so when I have leftover roasted chestnuts, I grind them right away and save them for cookies or cakes. This cookie recipe came up from wanting to use the leftover roasted chestnuts before they hardened. It turned out pretty good and I decided to share it with you all. You may substitute pistachios or hazelnuts if you’re not fond of chestnuts.

Note: Follow my 'Roasted Chestnuts' recipe if you have never roasted chestnuts.

3 ¼ cups flour
1 ½ cups finely ground roasted chestnuts
3 sticks soft butter (12 oz.)
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Using a Stand Mixer:

Using the paddle attachment of the mixer, mix sugar and butter until the butter takes a whitish color. Add the egg, vanilla and chestnuts. Mix for 1-2 minutes. Turn off and unplug mixer. Remove the paddle attachment and replace with flat beater. Re-plug and turn on the mixer. Continue mixing at speed 2 and gradually add the flour. Mix until the dough is smooth.

Manually:

Place butter and sugar in a deep bowl. With an egg beater, mix both until butter takes a whitish color. Add the egg, vanilla, chestnuts and continue mixing until all ingredients are married together. Slowly incorporate the flour. Using hands knead the cookie dough until the it is smooth.

Grease a cookie sheet. Pull egg sized dough and create a ball. Flatten the dough ball by pressing with your fingers on the cookie sheet. Bake at 350° F for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let the cookies cool. Serve with hot tea or coffee.

Cookies with Pistachios (Antepfıstıklı Kurabiye)

Recently, Turkish Food Passion has been attempting to broaden its dessert repertoire due to its limited number of published dessert recipes. Today, Turkish Food Passion presents its first cookie recipe. The cookies are made with ground pistachio nuts which are commonly used in Turkish desserts. Hazelnuts or almonds may be substituted for pistachios. These cookies will go perfectly with a cup of coffee or tea any time of the day. Enjoy.

Yield: 18-20 cookies

1 cup flour
1 stick softened unsalted butter (4 oz)
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup finely ground pistachio
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla
½ tsp baking powder

Using a Stand Mixer:

Combine softened butter, egg, vanilla and sugar in the stand mixer bowl. Using stand mixer wired whip attachment, whisk until all ingredients are integrated. Start with speed 2 to and gradually increase to speed 8.

Change the wire whip attachment and replace with the flat beater attachment (make sure the mixer is turned off and unplugged when doing this). Fold in the rest of the ingredients except the pistachios and mix at speed 4. Once all the ingredients are married, add pistachios and mix again for 1-2 minutes until pistachios are distributed evenly.

Manually:

Combine softened butter, egg, vanilla and sugar in a bowl. Whisk until all ingredients are integrated. Fold in the rest of the ingredients except the pistachios. Once all the ingredients are married, add pistachios and mix again for a few more minutes until all pistachios are distributed evenly.

Grease a cookie sheet. Take spoonful of the cookie dough and drop on the greased cookie sheet with no particular shape.

Bake at 350° F for 25 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool for 2-3 hours. The cookies can be stored in air tight jar to keep them fresh. Enjoy with hot tea.

Cardamom Mastic Gum Pistachio Cake (Kakuleli Damla Sakızlı Antep Fıstıklı Kek)

It is time for a new cake recipe! One day I felt like making a cake, a type of cake that I had never had before. So, I took a look at my pantry and refrigerator and got some ideas based on the ingredients I had on hand. I set out to make the cake without completely deciding what kind of flavor I wanted. As I made my cake, I made my decisions to add a little bit of this and a little bit of that. What came out was a cake with ground cardamom, ground pistachios and mastic gum! Yes, mastic gum. What is mastic gum? I get this question a lot…If you are not from the Mediterranean region or if you are not familiar with Mediterranean cuisine or if you haven’t traveled to the Mediterranean countries, most likely you do not know mastic gum. Mastic gum, ‘damla sakızı’ in Turkish is harvested from Pistacia lentiscus shrub, a native to the Mediterranean region which is from the pistachio family.

Liquid is bled from the trunk of the tree and then sun dried into hard, small, translucent pieces that secret a very distinct and pleasant aroma. It can be grounded using a mortar.


Mastic gum is mainly used in chewing gum in Turkey as well as the famous Kahramanmaraş Dondurması (Kahramanmaraş Ice Cream) and some other desserts and cookies. I bought the mastic gum a while back when I attempted to make Kahramanmaraş Dondurması which I will leave to talk about another time. Mastic gum can be found in Turkish, Greek and Middle Eastern stores in the U.S.
The cake I made this evening, turned out crispy from the outside and soft and fluffy from the inside, exactly how I had envisioned. It is light and not too sweet, just perfect. I am actually eating a piece of cake as I am typing this post. My palates are dancing right now! This version turned out far more superior compared to my previous two attempts. I hope you enjoy it.


1 3/4 cups flour
1 ¼ cup sugar
1/2 cup yogurt
1 stick unsalted butter 4 oz. (melted & cooled)
4 eggs
1 egg yolk
1/3 cup ground raw pistachios
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp ground mastic gum
1 lemon zest
¼ tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract

Unsalted butter for greasing the cake pan
¼ tsp of flour to sprinkle on greased cake pan

Note: All ingredients need to be at room temperature. To hinder the cake from cracking around the ring, cover with aluminum foil only for the first 20-25 minutes of baking time.

Using a Stand Mixer:

Place the eggs, the one egg yolk and sugar in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Attach the wire whip to the beater shaft of the mixer. Using the wire whip of the mixer beat the eggs and sugar starting with the lowest speed and gradually increasing the speed to 8 until creamy. Once a creamy texture is attained, add the lemon zest, yogurt, cardamom, vanilla, baking soda and mix at speed 2. Add the pistachios and mastic gum and mix for 1 minute. Add flour and continue mixing at speed 2. Scrape down the ingredients sticking around the bowl with a spatula. Add melted butter gradually until a smooth batter is attained.

Manually:

In a deep bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar until the mixture is creamy. Add the lemon zest, yogurt, cardamom, vanilla and baking soda. Continue mixing. Add pistachios and mastic gum and mix for 3-4 minutes. Add the flour mix with the rest of the ingredients. Finally, add the melted butter and whisk until a smooth batter is attained.

Set oven heat at 350ºF. Grease a cake mold or a Pyrex dish with unsalted butter. Sprinkle a little flour on the greased pan or cake mold. Pour the cake batter in the cake mold. When the oven is ready, place in the middle rack and bake for 45-50 minutes or until golden brown. To check whether the cake is baked well or not, insert a toothpick in the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean, that means your cake is ready, if it comes out with batter, that means it still needs baking.

When you remove the cake from the oven, let it rest for about 15 minutes before taking the cake out of the cake mold.

Enjoy with a hot tea or coffee.

Orange Cake (Portakallı Kek)

This cake reminds me of my childhood. I grew up with orange and lemon cakes since I used to live in part of Turkey where citrus trees grow. The Mediterranean region is blessed with citrus fruit. Fields are filled with lemons, oranges, clementines, mandarins and grapefruit trees. There is an abundance of citrus fruit, so they are widely used in desserts, salads and other dishes.

When I was growing up, during the citrus season (usually winter months), our home always had lots of citrus fruit and none of it was ever purchased. Due to the generosity of relatives, family friends and acquaintance who own citrus farms or citrus trees, we never had to purchase them. Now, my father has his own citrus farm which he enjoys taking care of as a hobby, so now we have more citrus fruit than we even want. In fact, he has a few orange trees that last until the summer, so every year when I go home, they save a tree full of juicy oranges so I can enjoy them from the tree. I know that’s really sweet.


Back to the cake…This cake is very simple and common, which does not require elaborate ingredients. To me, the simpler, the tastier. Sometimes, I do not enjoy foods that have way too many ingredients and different flavors which cause my palates to be confused. Usually, I enjoy one flavor without the interruption of other flavors. Since I am fan of oranges, I like the hint of orange flavor that comes out of the cake. The cake is not too sweet, but flavorful. I wanted to attain the exact flavor I enjoyed when I ate this, God knows how many years ago, at home in Turkey. I still remember flavors of orange and lemon cakes I had when I was a child!

It has been almost two years since I have baked a cake, since I try not to bake or make desserts often. It is usually too much for me and my husband and we end up eating it all. Not so much for weight gain (partially), but for health reasons. However, I did find a solution. When I make desserts or cakes, I take most of it to my office or send to my husband’s office so we could share with our colleagues. I like sharing food, so there are times when I bake things only for the office (not just for experiment). Since I baked this cake 7 times in the past couple weeks, I sent almost all of these cakes to my husband’s office and some to my office. As a result, a coworker of mine offered to bring me oranges from his orange tree in front of his house! I gratefully accepted and the next day he came with a bag full of oranges so I could bake more cake! I baked my last version of the cake with these natural oranges which turned out really good.

The first cake I baked, was too dry, but came out of the cake mold perfectly. The second time, I improved the flavor tremendously, but the cake was cracking and it didn’t come out of the pan nicely. The third time, I improved the flavor even more, but the top of the cake was cracking. Well, during my next try, I covered it with aluminum foil for the first 15 minutes of baking, which prevented it from cracking. However, it still did not come out of the cake mold nicely. Every time it had to break slightly, in one place or another. So, finally, I am happy to say that last night, this cake came out really good with the help of a tip from my mom. The trick was that, instead of greasing the cake mold with liquid oil, I greased it with unsalted butter, with a sprinkle of flour on the greased pan and baked it at lower heat than usual. Apparently, this is a known tip for bakers. Obviously, I have a lot of room for improvement in baking.

I did not want to post this cake until I perfected it in every way. Now, here it is. Enjoy!

2 cups flour
1.5 cup sugar
1/2 cup yogurt
1/2 cup canola oil (or vegetable oil)
3 eggs
1 large orange (both the zest and the juice to be used)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract

Unsalted butter for greasing the cake pan
¼ tsp of flour to sprinkle on greased cake pan

Note: All ingredients need to be at room temperature. To hinder the cake from cracking around the ring, cover with aluminum foil only for the first 15 minutes of baking time.

Using a Stand Mixer:

Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Place the egg whites in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Attach the wire whip to the beater shaft of the mixer. Using the wire whip of the mixer beat the egg whites starting with the lowest speed and gradually increasing the speed to 8. Once a foamy texture is attained, place the foamy egg in a separate bowl.

Grate the orange and put the zest aside. Squeeze the orange and set aside. In the mixer bowl, place the egg yolks, sugar, orange juice, orange zest, yogurt, vanilla extract and oil. Whip together at speed 8; again starting at the lowest speed and increasing it gradually.

Remove the wire whip attachment from the mixer and attach the flat beater (Do this after unplugging the stand mixer as the instructions of the mixer suggest). Add the foamy egg white to the bowl. Sift the flour and baking soda in a separate bowl and add them to the wet ingredients in the bowl of the mixer. Mix together at speed 4 for a few minutes until all the ingredients are incorporated and you have a smooth batter. In case some of the flour stays around the mixing bowl, scrape them down using a spatula. Make sure your mixer is off when you are doing this.

Manually:

In a deep bowl, whisk the egg whites until they are foamy. Set aside. On another large deep bowl, put the egg yolks, sugar, orange juice, yogurt, oil, vanilla extract and orange zest and whisk together until all the ingredients are integrated. Add the egg white foam the rest of wet ingredients. Sift flour and baking soda and add to the wet ingredients. Mix all the ingredients until you attain a smooth batter.

Set oven heat at 325ºF. Grease a cake mold with unsalted butter. Sprinkle a little flour on the greased pan or cake mold. Pour the cake batter in the cake mold. When the oven is ready, place in the middle rack and bake for 50 minutes. To check whether the cake is baked well or not, insert a toothpick in the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean, that means your cake is ready, if it comes out with batter, that means it still needs baking.

When you remove the cake from the oven, let it rest for about 15 minutes before taking the cake out of the cake mold.

Enjoy with a hot tea or coffee.