No matter how much time I spend with my mum, it is never enough. And the day I travel back to Dubai I will be already missing her. Today recipe is a nostalgic kind of recipes. When my mum visited us in September, we spent some quality time baking in the kitchen and this recipe was one of our creations.
I never posted it before; I snapped some pictures but totally forgot about it. And today I was, like everyday, missing my mum and her cooking, especially the sweet stuff and I remembered this recipe!
This recipe is just memories embedded within each bite. Do you have that with certain food?
These cookies are so delicious.
Crispy golden from the outside and chewy and fluffy from the inside. And if you are thinking that this is chocolate in the dark ribbons think again! If I love one thing more than chocolate, it is molasses.
And not any molasses the Lebanese carob molasses. You can do this recipe with all white dough but if you have the extra effort, you can add this delicious deep flavoured carob molasses to the dough and you will thank me for sure!
Carob molasses has a deep sweet aroma taste with some roasted fruity taste and a nuance of chocolate. It is something unique that you won’t taste in any other ingredient, and it adds so much depth to your recipe. It can be enjoyed mixed with some tahini and with just a pitta bread that you dip and eat. Also, we usually prepare a cake with it that is also very delicious maybe I will share it with you someday.
In this recipe I made two doughs: one with carob molasses and one with just sugar and they both have another traditional Lebanese ingredient which is laban aka plain yogurt, you can use the Greek or normal yoghurt instead but better to stick with the unflavoured one to maintain the authentic flavour of these cookies.
Mahleb spice that I use in my dough also, is a flavouring ingredient so if you cannot find it, you can skip it but it is one of the ingredients heavily used in our middle eastern baking , it has a cherry vanilla taste mixed with almond roses taste that is quite unique. It’s similar to nutmeg in a way that a small quantity goes a long way in a recipe and it will leave your house smelling amazing while baking !
So, without further ado, preheat you oven and let’s start baking!
If you like this authentic recipe make sure you check my delicious date buns (maarouk) and many other Lebanese inspired recipes on the blog.
Carob molasses twisted cookies
Ingredients
For White dough:
- 3 ½ cup flour see notes
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup neutral vegetable oil
- ¼ cup melted butter
- 1 cup yogurt Laban
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tbsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp nutmeg powder
- ½ tsp mahlab powder optional
For carob molasses dough:
- 5 cup flour see notes
- 1 cup carob molasses see notes
- ½ cup neutral vegetable oil
- ¼ cup melted butter
- 1 cup yogurt Laban
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tbsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp nutmeg powder
- ½ tsp mahlab powder optional
Instructions
For the white dough:
- First in a deep mixing bowl , or in the bowl of your mixer, mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, nutmeg, mahlab and sugar) together except the baking soda .
- Mix the baking soda with ½ cup of yoghurt to react and set aside.
- Add the oil and butter to dry ingredients and knead until everything is mix well together. Add the ½ cup of yogurt and keep kneading. Start adding the other half of the yoghurt 1 tbsp at the time while kneading until you have a smooth lean dough ball. you might not need the whole ½ cup of yoghurt it depends on the flour you are using, for that reason it is better to add it gradually until you have a smooth dough. It should not be sticky; it should be very smooth and easy to shape and work with.
- Brush a deep bowl with some oil and lay the dough in it cover and let it rest in a warm place for 30 minutes before working with it.
For the carob molasses dough:
- Same steps as the white dough but instead of the sugar we put carob molasses. This dough will need more flour because of the carob liquid. So, we start by mixing all the dry ingredients expect the baking soda in a deep bowl (flour, baking powder, nutmeg and mahlab)
- Mix the baking soda with ½ cup of the yoghurt and set aside.
- Add the oil, butter and carob molasses to dry ingredients and knead till everything is mixed. Add the ½ cup of yogurt with baking soda to the dough mixture and knead and start adding the other half one tablespoon at the time until you have a smooth soft dough. Brush another deep bowl with some oil and lay the dough in it cover and let it rest in warm place for 30 minutes before working with it.
For shaping and baking:
- Preheat your oven on 180 C ◦ with the oven rack in higher middle level in the oven.
- You can shape these cookies the way you wanted into 10 to 15 cm rings. in the video below you can see how I shaped them into those white and carob molasses braided rings.
- Another easier option you can divide each dough into 4 smaller doughs and roll each part into a long cylinder as thick as your forefinger approximately. Divide the strips into 15 cm long strips. Gently fold dough strips into an upside down “u”. Working from the right side each time, twist the right dough over the left three times, pressing the ends together after the final twist.
- Or you can just make on big twist and press the end together to form a ring similar shape. You can also dip their top with some sesame seeds for an extra crisp. Just mix some sesame with 2 tbsp water and 1 tbsp carob molasses and dip the cookies in it. as you can see in the video below we tried many shapes.
- Line some baking sheet into your baking tray and arrange the cookies on it with keeping some distance between them (3cm) .
- Bake them for 10 minutes than keep an eye on them for extra 2 minutes until they are golden brown from top. You need to keep close eye last two minutes because they will quickly burn. Just when they start to take that golden light brown color remove from the oven. Cover and let it rests for 5 minutes before removing from tray.
- Serve with some warm milk or tea and enjoy!
Notes
- Flour: I used all purpose flour in this recipe. Depending on the flour you will use more or less quantity of liquid in this case the yoghurt, for that reason I always keep half of my yoghurt quantity to add gradually so I can have a smooth dough.
- Neutral oil: like sunflower seeds, canola or in my case I used grapeseed oil, any neutral taste oil work. I don’t recommend using oils with strong flavors like coconut oil because it will affect the final taste of the cookies.
- Carob molasses: if you don’t find the carob molasses you can switch to normal dark molasses to make the dark chocolaty dough.
- Storing: these cookies can be stored in an airtight container for 2 weeks in room temperature and for 2 months in the fridge , you can even freeze them for up to 6 months and they will stay very fresh.