Barazek facts for kids
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| Type | cookie |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Levant |
| Region or state | Al-Midan, Damascus, Syria |
| Main ingredients | flour, butter, icing sugar, egg yolk, sesame |
Barazek (pronounced bah-rah-zek) is a yummy cookie from Syria and Palestine. Its main ingredient is sesame seeds, and it often has crunchy pieces of pistachio too.
This special cookie probably started a long time ago in Damascus, the capital city of Syria. It was especially popular in a neighborhood called Al-Midan. Today, Barazek cookies are super popular! You can find them in most bakeries all over the Levant. This area includes countries like Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, and Syria. You can even find people selling Barazek on the streets of Jerusalem.
Barazek is one of Syria's most famous desserts. There are many different ways to make it. But all versions use flour, butter, sugar, and sesame. Some recipes might also add egg, milk, pistachios, honey, a spice called mahleb, yeast, or vanilla. Sometimes, people use a special kind of butter called clarified butter (or samneh) instead of regular butter. Barazek cookies taste sweet, buttery, and nutty. They have a lovely crisp and crunchy texture.
How to Make Barazek
Here's a simple way to make Barazek cookies. This recipe uses egg yolk but no milk.
Making the Dough
- First, take 250 grams of flour and 150 grams of cold butter.
- Cut the butter into small pieces.
- Use your hands to mix the flour and butter. Keep crumbling it until it looks like sand.
- Next, add icing sugar, the yolks from two eggs, and a little vanilla extract.
- Press the dough together until it forms a ball.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge. Let it rest for a few hours. This dough is quite similar to French shortbread dough.
Baking the Cookies
- After the dough has rested, take it out of the fridge.
- Roll the dough into small balls, about 15 grams each. That's about the size of a small marble.
- Flatten each ball onto a plate covered with sesame seeds. Make sure both sides are coated!
- Place the flattened cookies on a baking tray.
- Heat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius (that's about 400 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Put the tray in the hot oven.
- Bake for about 10 minutes. You'll know they're ready when you start to smell them, or when the edges turn golden brown.
- Carefully take the tray out of the oven.
- Move the hot cookies to a wire rack to cool down. They will get harder and crispier as they cool.
See also
In Spanish: Barazek para niños
