
Chebakia (Moroccan Sesame Cookies)
Chebakia is the Moroccan pastry of Ramadan. Spiced dough is rolled thin, cut into rectangles, slashed and folded through the fingers into an elongated flower shape, fried until golden, then dropped into hot honey scented with orange flower water and finished with sesame. Its association with the fast is close to absolute. Moroccans break the fast with harira soup and chebakia together, and the two are made in quantity in the weeks beforehand. It also appears at weddings and baby showers, and is sold year round at bakeries and market stalls. It goes by other names in other regions, including griouech and mkharka. The folding is what makes it difficult and what makes it recognisable. Each rectangle is cut into five attached strips, threaded onto a finger, and turned inside out around a pinched centre, which produces the rose shape. It takes practice and it is why chebakia is often made communally, several women working through a large batch together. The dough itself is heavily spiced, with anise, cinnamon, saffron and ground toasted sesame, and mastic gum, a resin used across North Africa and the Middle East, gives it a distinctive aroma.
Morocco2 hr 30 minNympha











