Using dates as a filling is quite famous in the Middle Eastern cuisine. To be honest, it is my favorite kind of filling. It is naturally sweetened and with the right kind of spices it takes your palate to a new different level. Getting cookies or sweet pastries that are filled with dates is the best and most common thing you can get from your local bakery in the Middle East.

So I wanted to work on my own version of these kind of cookies. So I decided to start tweaking another dough recipe that I worked before with. I chose to work with beigli which is the Hungarian walnuts roulade which I shared on this blog before. You can find the recipe here.

Of course I had to tweak it and add my Middle Eastern touch to it and thus created these super easy, soft and chewy dates stick cookies. They are perfect for your tea time as they are light, not overly sweet and easy to eat with your fingers.

You can watch the video with English detailed instructions here:

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 2 cups flour
• 100 grams of cold butter cut into 1 cm cubes
• 1/2 cup lukewarm milk
• 1 teaspoon instant dried yeast
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds powder
• 1 teaspoon anise seeds powder

Filling:

• 250 gram dates paste “check tips”
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds powder
• 1 teaspoon anise seeds powder
• 1/2 teaspoon star anise powder

For the glaze:

• 1 large egg, its yolk and white separated

Tips:

•  Make sure that the butter is cold
• Make sure to knead the dough long enough between 7 – 10 minutes.
• Lightly beat the egg yolk and the egg white separately before brushing each to the roulades’ surface.
• After rolling the dough into a rope you can further stretch it until you get the thickness you prefer.
• When glazing, you start with the egg yolk and let the dough rest and the glaze dry before glazing again with the egg white before baking. This will create the tiger like golden finish to your cookies.
• Bake the cookies in a preheated oven at 180 C in a normal oven and 160 C in a fan forced oven.
• Make sure that the cookies has completely cooled before storing in an airtight container.

This cheesecake has no refined sugar and obviously no diary products. Also the curst is gluten free which is great from those who are on a gluten free diet. I’m not. But having a gluten free dessert is not bad at all.

If I haven’t tempted you enough yet. Let me say that this cake is easy to make and almost fool proof. So what are you waiting for? Give it a go and you won’t regret it.

A detailed video recipe in English is here:

Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 1/2 cup almonds
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 7 pitted dates
• 2 tbs coconut oil
• dash of salt

For the filling:

• 2 1/2 cup soaked raw cashews
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tbs vanilla essence
• 1 cup frozen blueberries

Tips:

• Make sure all the nuts you are using are not salted or toasted
• The cashews need to be soaked for at least 4 hours and preferably overnight to make sure you’ll get the creamy texture at the end.
• You can adjust how many dates you are using depending on the variety and size of them. I used medium sized ones.
• You can adjust how much maple syrup you want to add depending on how sweet you like it.
• You can use fresh berries if you want. But be mindful of its water content so as not to ruin the thickness of your filling.
• You can use other kind of berries if you wish to.
• The cheesecake should be placed in the freezer for at least 4 hours and preferably overnight so that it will firm nicely.
• You need to take the cheesecake out and leave it for half an hour at room temperature before serving it.
• You can serve the cake frozen, half frozen or even thawed.
• You can put the remaining cake back in the freezer or in the fridge if you don’t want a frozen texture.

Warbat is made of crunchy layers of phyllo pastry filled with a creamy custard and baked until golden. Then Warbat is drenched in sweet sugar syrup which is sometimes flavored with rose water or orange blossom water. Finally Warbat is topped with crushed pistachios. It is a must try.

To know how to make Warbat bil eshta at home please watch this video:

Ingredients:

• 1 & 1/2 cup milk
• 6 tbsp cornflour
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 300 ml thickened or double cream
• 1 pack phyllo pastry
• 1 cup melted ghee “use as needed only”
• sugar syrup
• crushed pistachios for decoration

Tips:

• Make sure that the phyllo pastry is kept at room temp. before use. Make sure to follow the pack’s instructions.
• Brushing each layer of the phyllo pastry with the melted ghee will help it crisp up and become golden once baked.
• Prepare the filling before hand so that it has enough time to cool completely before use.
• When adding the sugar syrup make sure it is at room temp. and the warbat is hot.

I used almonds, walnuts, cashew nuts and pistachios. And I’ve used dates, dried apricots, sultanas and raisins roughly chopped. And for spices I used cinnamon, caraway seeds and cloves all grounded.

This bread is very moist. You can have it for breakfast, brunch or afternoon tea. It is just perfect.
To know how to make it please watch the video:

Ingredients:

medium sized pumpkin to get 1 cup of cooked pumpkin

• 1 3/4 cups A/P flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup mixed nuts roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup mixed dried fruits roughly chopped
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/2 tsp caraway seeds grounded
• 1/8 tsp cloves grounded
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

For garnish “optional”

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 3 tbsp milk or as needed
• pappita seeds.

Tips:

• Cook pumpkin in a  preheated oven at 180 C for 45 – 60 mins or until it is cooked.
• We only need 1 cup of the pumpkin. The rest can be kept in the freezer for future recipes.
• You can use canned cooked pumpkin. But the fresh option is a better option.
• You can use which ever nuts, dried fruits or spices you like.
• Bake the bread in a preheated oven at 180 C for 3-45 mins or until it is done.
• Leave the bread to cool before icing it.
• Add the milk gradually to the icing sugar to get the right consistency.
• You can garnish the bread as you wish.

Hilbeh is made of fenugreek seeds, semolina and olive oil. It is quite healthy if it stopped here. But we drench it with sugar syrup. But that is why it is considered sweet.

I hope that you’ll give it a try.

To watch the recipe please watch this video:

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup fenugreek seeds
• 3, 1/2 cups coarse semolina
• 1/2 cup A/P flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp instant dried yeast
• ~ 1/2 cup lukewarm water

for the sugar syrup

• 4 cups sugar
• 2 cups water
• squeeze of a lemon.

Tips:

• You need to soak and cook the fenugreek before hand as they are bitter and you need to remove that bitterness from them.
• When making the dough make sure to add the water slowly as the quantity of water is reliant on the type of semolina and how much water there is in the cooked fenugreek.
• The sugar syrup must be completely cold before you add it to the hot hilbeh.
• You must cut the hilbeh before baking it and after resting it. You can cut it into cubes or diamonds which is more traditional.
• After adding the sugar syrup you have to allow hilbeh to completely cooled down before taking it out of the tray and serving it.

You can adjust the recipe by adding chopped fresh thyme leaves or adding hot sauce or chillies.

Spinach has many proven health benefits. You can read this article about 34 science backed health benefits to Spinach written by Helen Nichols for Well-Being Secretes.

Usually we eat these spinach triangles with yoghurt. And my go to yoghurt is the one I make at home as it is lighter and tangier than your average store bought yoghurt.

To know how to make the Palestinian spinach triangles please watch this video:

Ingredients:

For the Dough:

• 6 cups AP flour
• 1 3/4 cups lukewarm milk
• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 4 tsp dried instant yeast
• 1 tbsp salt

For the Filling:

1 kilo of washed and chopped spinach leaves

1 medium size onion finely diced

3 tbls Sumac or to taste

1 tbls salt or to taste

2 tbls olive oil or to taste

juice of one lemon

Tips:

• Make sure that the milk and water are at around 40 C.
• Make sure to knead the dough long enough, not less than 10 mins
• Leave the dough to prove in a warm place until double in size for about 2 hours.
• Once you chop your spinach leaves add a bit of salt and let stand for 1 hour so extra juices come out.
• Drain the spinach very well before making the filling.
• Salt and sumac are to taste so feel free to adjust the recipe to your own liking.
• You can add chilli paste or chilli powder if you like some heat.
• Bake the triangles in a preheated oven at 200-220 C for 15-20 mins or until golden.
• Once they are done you can brush them with a bit of olive oil and cover them with a tea towel until serving.
• You can buy the sumac from international or continental supermarkets or sometimes in healthy food section of your supermarket.

To make the star shapes is quite easy as you’ll see in the video. And you can use any kind of seeds to top these loaves. Or you can even leave them out.

To know how to make this bread please watch the video:

Ingredients:

• 500 grams whole wheat flour
• 500 grams A/P flour
• 3 cups lukewarm water
• 4 tsps instant yeast
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar

Tips:

• Water should be around 40 C.
• Make sure that you knead the dough for enough time at least 10-15 mins.
• Leave the dough to prove in a warm place until it double in size. That will take 1 – 2 hours.
• After shaping the loaves leave them to prove again in a warm place for an hour.
• You can use sesame seeds, nigella seeds or any other seeds you like to sprinkle on top of the loaves.
• Bake the loaves in a preheated oven at 220 C for 15-20 mins or until they are golden.

You can present them as one large tart, or individual portions of small tartlets. Either ways these delicious tarts are easy to make and it will impress your guests.

To know how to make these tarts please watch the video:

Ingredients:

Custard

• 1 liter full cream milk
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 3/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 Vanilla pod or 1 tbsp vanilla extract or essence

Pastry “These are double the amount mentioned in the video as I ended up having to make another batch to use ai all my custard filling”

• 400 grams A/P flour
• 200 grams cold unsalted butter cut into cubes
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp icy cold water

Topping

• Mixed berries of your choice, frozen or fresh
• berries jam “optional”

Tips:

• The amount of custard I made in the video is enough to fill 12 medium size tartlets AND 1 big tart. So I had to make another batch of the dought for that. Alternatively you can cut the custard ingredients by half.
• When making the dough make sure that everything is really cold; butter, egg and water.
• Don’t overwork the dough as this will stop the dough becoming short and melt-in-your-mouth.
• Leave the dough to rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour before rolling it.
• Bake the pie in a preheated oven at 180C for 10-15 mins or until the edges of the tart becomes golden.
• When adding the milk  to the beaten eggs be careful to do it slowly while whisking all the time or else you might have scrambled eggs.
• When the custard is ready cover its surface with plastic wrap so as it doesn’t form a crust. Leave it to cool completely in the fridge before using.
• It is better to assemble the tarts before serving and make sure that the tart and custard are completely cold.
• You can use any mix of berries you wish whether frozen or fresh. If frozen use as, no need to thaw it.

To decorate I got several ideas crossing my mind until I felt inspired by the orange in the cake and decided to use dried orange zest. But then I thought why not add lemon and lime zest in there too. Not only they will look great but they will add subtle flavors that will marry everything well together.

You should try this recipe out and share it with your loved ones. I hope every one will enjoy it.
To know how to make this recipe please watch my video here:

Ingredients:

• 1 orange cake based on my recipe which you’ll find here.
• 225 grams dark chocolate
• 225 unsalted butter cut into cubes
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• dried orange, lime and lemon zest

Tips:

• Start by baking the cake. You want it to be completely cool before frosting it.
• When melting the chocolate and butter you can either do that in the microwave in 30 sec. intervals or you can melt them in a heat proof bowl over a saucepan with simmering water.
• You should leave the frosting to cool in the fridge for an hour. If it is still too runny leave it for longer and if it is too hard then leave it at room temperature until it becomes spreadable.
• You can dry the citrus zest in different ways: either in an oven at 100 C until they dry, or after you finish baking your cake wait 30 mins then place them there to dry with the residue heat or dry them the day before by leave them out at room temperature.
• The cake should be kept covered and in the fridge. Take it out half an hour before serving so that the frosting is not too solid.

Today I made mine using rosemary and rock salt but you can use the dough and customize the toppings as you like.
To know how to make this focaccia bread please watch the video:

Ingredients:

• 3 cups A/P flour
• 1 and 1/4 cup lukewarm water
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp dried instant yeast
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp table salt
• rock salt
• rosemary

Tips:

• Make sure you knead the dough long enough, nothing less than 10 mins.
• The dough should stay sticky but if you feel it is too sticky you can add a bit of flour.
• Leave the dough to rest in a warm place until it double in size, around 1 hour.
• After shaping the focaccia leave to rest again for another 1 hour.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 200 C for 20 mins or until golden to your liking.