SO let me just clarify something, I am technically both Syrian and Turkish but I don’t speak Turkish (you can blame my mom for that). Most of the Turkish influence in my life comes from baking and cooking. One of our favorite (I guess you could call it) genre of baking is kurabiye. Kurabiye is a type of Turkish shortbread cookie that comes together with very simple ingredients.
This specific recipe is stuffed with a mixture of dates, dried apricots, candied oranges, and walnuts. Within this recipe you can adjust the filling and even substitute the nuts or the dried fruit for whatever you want!
Date and Sesame Kurabiye
(Najla's recipe)
Ingredients
- For the dough:
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 250 grams butter, room temperature (17 1/2 tbsp)
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1/4 cups milk
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teasoon vanilla extract
- 3 1/2 - 4 cups flour (450-550 grams)
- For the filling:
- 400 grams date paste (1 pack of date paste)
- 50 grams candied orange peel, diced (1/4 cup)
- 75 grams dried apricot, diced (~ 1/3 cup)
- 75 grams walnuts, crushed (~1/3 cup)
- sesame seeds, for coating
Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the oil, milk, vanilla, baking powder, and egg and mix until combined.
- Like many Turkish recipes you’ll find, the amount of flour is very helpfully given as “as much as is needed for the dough.” Start with about 3 1/2 cups of flour (~450-550 g), and bring the mixture together until it forms a dough. The dough should be soft, but stiff enough to be filled and shaped. It’s a very forgiving recipe, and you can add more flour as needed at any point.
- Refrigerate the dough for one hour.
- Mix the candied orange peel, dried apricot, and crushed walnuts together in a large bowl until even. Add the date paste and “knead” together until well-combined. Divide into four equal pieces.
- Preheat the oven to 325F, and line a large baking tray with parchment paper.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator, and turn on to a clean surface. Divide the dough into four equal pieces. Starting with one piece, roll into a “log” about as long as the baking sheet, and flatten until you have a rectangle about two inches wide. Roll one piece of the filling to the same size, and wrap inside the dough. Flatten the roll, then cut into 2-inch pieces. Repeat with the rest of the dough and filling.
- Press the cut ends of each kurabiye into a shallow bowl of sesame seeds to coat. Place on the baking sheet, and make an indentation with a fork on the top of the kurabiye.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until light gold on top. These will keep for up to two weeks in an airtight container at room temperature.
Notes
*I use the Ziyad Baking Dates package which you can find at any Arabic supermarket.
*You could get fancy and use a food processor to grind the walnuts, or you could do as we do: stick the walnuts in a ziplock bag and bash it several times with a rolling pin.
*This dough is very easy to work with, so I prefer to do everything by hand. But a stand or electric mixer works as well.
To store in freezer:
Fully cook the kurabiye and place in an airtight container or ziplock bag to freeze. Take it out and let thaw or stick into the oven at 325 F for 6ish minutes or until ready.
