Continuing with the St. Barbara day inspired recipes, today I am going to share with you my own version of “maakroun” or as some people call it “Zaynab fingers”.
This is also a traditional recipe made on several occasion in the Middle Eastern and Arabic country.
It is basically cookies made with mainly semolina, deep fried in oil and then soaked hot in sugar syrup.
It is a crispy bites from outside and soft and chewy from the inside.
I love those bites since I was a child, I can have a big batch in seconds!
Now for my clean healthy version of it, when it comes to semolina I always like to use it because it has so many benefits that there is no need to substitute it with anything else. Plus it adds a great texture and taste to the dish you are preparing.
Unlike what people may think, Semolina play a big part in weight loss. According to many researches, semolina is very rich in fiber which help tremendously in digesting your food. It also has the ability to keep you away from hunger because semolina will release energy slowly. It contains a low glycemic which in practical way means it give you enough daily energy while keeping your sugar blood low. Which makes it even more perfect for diabetics. The benefits of semolina are too much to resume in one small paragraph but if you like to know more about it you can go and check this link for more info!
Now back to our recipe, I wanted to omit the frying part of course and the sugar syrup part also but I wanted to preserve the taste and must importantly the texture that distinguish those small cookie bites from any other cookies “The crispy outside and soft inside”.
And I am really so excited to share with you the recipe, that even my husband loved it more than the deep fried original version! He is a picky eater that loves his junk food so I always test my recipes on him to see how successful it was! If his used to junk sugary processed food tongue likes it then it is a must try recipe. He is a very active guy, he works out every day and he is in great shape and now he made up his mind to clean his whole diet and I really feel very proud and happy when he tries and love my recipes.
Those small bites are a very original way to impress your next guests for coffee or desserts after dinner or lunch. With each bite the flavors will explode in your mouth and you won’t feel heavy or guilty if you had a couple of those while enjoying your time with friends and family.
Maakroun cookie bites:
Serve 30-35 pieces
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup semolina
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- ½ cup plain yoghurt (Laban or Greek yoghurt)
- 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/3 cup coconut oil
- 1 tsp. “mahlab” *
- 1 Tbsp. Orange zest
- 1 Tbsp. rose water
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Preheat oven on 190 C◦, and line some parchment paper in a baking tray.
- Mix all the dry ingredients together and make a small hole in the middle
- Add oil and mix all good till you have a wet sand texture.
- Add the yoghurt, orange zest and rose water and mix it all good till you have a combined dough.
- Divide the dough in small medium balls, around 1 Tbsp. / ball.
- Roll each ball on a cheese grater to texturize the ball. Like the picture below.
- Line in the baking tray and bake for 10 minutes.
- Then turn off the heat and turn on the above broiler and let it cook for extra 8 minutes till it get a golden brownish color.
- You want to keep an eye on the cookies while broiling because it get easily burned and dried if you leave it more than it should. It took them for about 8 minutes in my oven but it differ from one oven to another.
- Remove from oven and divide them into two balls while they still hot.
- One mix with honey till the hall pieces are glazed.
- And the other part mix it with date syrup till the whole piece are glazed.
- Let it cool down for 5 minutes and enjoy!
NOTES:
*mahlab is an aromatic spice made from grounded seeds of a species of cherry called “prunus mahaleb”. Its flavor is similar to a combination of bitter almond and cherry. It is used in small quantities to sharpen sweets foods and cakes in the middle-east and Arabic kitchen. However if you can’t find it you can skip it because it is only for flavor in this recipe and doesn’t affect the final recipe structure.
*I used the honey and date syrup instead of the sugar syrup for a healthier version, I liked the date syrup version the must because it compliment the hall flavor of the recipe much better but feel free to use any natural sweet syrup you love instead .
*any leftovers can be stored in the fridge and they can live up to couple of weeks.
for more St.Barbara day inspired recipes check out this amazing stuffed Arabic pancake recipe