Egipcios - Moroccan Shortbread Cookie with Dates

Growing up my brother Daniel and I went to my grandparents every Saturday for Shabbat lunch.  Mama (grandmother from my dads side) was an amazing baker, and had a lot of family recipes.  I am not sure how many of them got passed on to family.  I know my brother had a few of them that he shared but I couldn't find the Egipcios recipe on here.

Not to long ago, our cousin posted a picture of these cookies on Facebook.  So I absolutely asked for the recipe from my dads cousin. Rachel was my dads cousin than Dan always went to first when seeking out Moroccan family recipes.

Egipcios are cookies that are probably best described as a short bread cookie stuffed with dates.  The cookie is usually crumbly and not too sweet, but stuffed with a date mixture that adds just the right amount of sweetness.

Me, not being the baker, asked my mother'n'law if she could try to make these cookies for me.  Nancy is always up for a challenge in the kitchen, so she was quick to accept.  I just gave her an extra twist to my challenge because my wife has Celiac Disease, and I wanted this recipe to be gluten free so I could share the experience of one of my favourite childhood cookies with my wife.  This didn't phase Nancy and she went to work and didn't disappoint.  Within a week she had all the ingredients needed to make this happen.

Here is the family recipe, I hope you enjoy!  If you want to make it gluten free, just make sure the flour is a gluten free flour and that the baking powder is gluten free, because not all are.

EGIPCIOS

Ingredients:

Cookie Pastry:
½ PKG CRISCO
7 TBLP WATER
7 TBLP OIL
7 TBSP SUGAR
3 TSP BAKING POWDER
ABOUT 3 CUPS FLOUR
PARNOOSH DATES IN A CONTAINER PITTED

Date Mixture:
DATES USE ½ CONTAINER
IN FOOD PROCESSOR PUT IN DATES
½ TSP CLOVE
½ TSP NUTMEG
½ TSP CINAMON

Directions:

1. Mix date mixture well.  Adjust spice ration to taste.
2. Using oil on your palm, form sticks a bit shorter and thicker than the size of a crayon.
3. Mix the dough and form the dough into halves (not to long)
4. Take the dough and put the date in.  Put another dough around to close and form the egipcios
5. Set oven to 300 degrees and bake until bottoms are lightly browned.
6. Garnesh with confectionery sugar.
7. Any leftover date mixture can be frozen.

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Chicken Tajine with Apples

Running out of new ideas for a Friday dinner, I found a recipe for Moroccan chicken on a Foodland Ontario website. The point of the recipe was mostly to pitch the benefits of Ontario-farmed chicken, apples and onions to unsuspecting consumers.

But really, what does this guy know about Moroccan food? (Running a province, yes, Moroccan food: not so much.)

So I ran with the recipe as a base and fixed it from there - eliminating the cornstarch, adding saffron and swapping out the boneless, skinless chicken for recognizable pieces. My friend Simon called it "de-Martha-Stewartifying - making the dish much more my style, and specifically less... umm... this guy.

Chicken Tajine with Apples


2 apples, cored, peeled, thinly sliced and tossed in 2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
dash salt
1 to 1 1/2 kilos chicken legs and/or thighs
1/4 cup oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp ginger, minced
2 cups chicken broth
pinch saffron, infused in 1-2 tbsp hot water
2 tbsp cup raisins
1/4 cup blanched almonds
4 dates, pitted and chopped
7 dried apricots, chopped

1. Core, peel and slice apples into thin wedges, toss in lemon juice and set aside.
2. Combine cumin, chili powder, cinnamon, salt and pepper and sprinkle onto chicken.
3. Heat oil on medium in a large pot, brown chicken on both sides. Set chicken aside.
4. Saute onions in the same pot for 2-3 minutes. Add garlic and ginger and saute for an additional 2 minutes.
5. Place chicken back in the pan and add broth and saffron. Bring to a boil and let simmer on medium for 25-30 minutes, uncovered.
6. Add apples (with lemon juice), dried fruit and nuts, reduce to medium-low and let simmer for another 5-10 minutes.

Serve with cous cous or rice (for gluten-free)

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Sephardic Charoset

The day before the first Seder, I realized that my father wasn't going to be bringing charoset like he usually does. Usually, he picks some up from his synagogue. It comes in little balls and immediately before serving, wine is added and it's mashed up.

In researching Sephardic charoset recipes, I found that there were a few basic requirements: dried fruit, nuts, fragrant spices, one fresh fruit to get it to all stick together. One recipe used bananas instead of apples and I liked that idea, so I looked around the pantry, found the spices and dried fruit on hand and arrived at one of the tastiest charosets I've ever had.

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Sephardic Charoset

by Daniel Saraga April 19, 2011

This charoset is symbolic of the mortar used by the Israelite slaves to build in Egypt.

Ingredients

3/4 cup walnuts3/4 cup almonds1 tsp cinnamon, ground1 tbsp garam masala1/2 tsp ginger, ground1 tsp nutmeg, ground1 tsp cloves30 dates, pitted2 bananas, mashed1/2 cup golden raisins1/4 cup sweet red wine (e.g., Manischewitz, or use rice wine for gluten-free)

Instructions

1. Grind the walnuts, almonds, cinnamon, garam masala, ginger, nutmeg and cloves in a food processor.2. Add dates, banana, raisins and honey, and puree and refrigerate until ready to serve.3. Before serving, slowly add wine until desired consistency is reached.Note: Charoset should be a thick paste, like a mortar.

Details

Prep time: 1 hour Cook time: Total time: 1 hourYield: 2 cups

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