The beginning of last week we were invited to a friend’s house for dinner. We had delicious dinner in their lovely Sukkah. I forgot to bring my camera, but will update this post when my friend sends me the pictures we took using her camera.
Our friend Miriam makes delicious wines using grapes, other fruits and herbs. We had the honor of having her cabernet sauvignon, strawberry and summer wines, which is made from pea pods. Yes folks, you read it correctly, pea pods. It was delicious and tasted quite fruity; very difficult to describe without sounding a bit pretentious. The strawberry wine was a little fizzy and tasted as if you were biting into a giant, luscious and ripe strawberry. Yum.
We closed the meal with delicious lemon cakes that her daughter made and the Kritika Patouthia biscuits and mango-nectarine sorbet that my husband and I made.
Kritika Patouthia are Greek biscuits from the island of Crete. They are filled with ground almonds, ground walnuts, sesame seeds and honey and are typically rolled in icing (powdered) sugar. I decided that they were sweet enough and omitted the icing sugar. These cookies are delicious and went well with the last of the summer mango-nectarine sorbet. I came up with this recipe when I didn’t have enough mangoes to make sorbet. The nectarines work quite well with the mango and do not get lost with the strong mango flavour.
- Dough:
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 4 tablespoons water
- 4 tablespoons orange juice
- Juice of one lemon
- 6 tablespoons white sugar
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Filling:
- 1 cup ground walnuts
- 1 cup ground almonds
- 1 cup sesame seeds
- 1 cup honey
- Confectioners' sugar
- Orange flower water or orange juice for sprinkling
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Mix together olive oil, water, orange juice, lemon juice and sugar. Set aside. In a large bowl sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Add olive oil mixture to flour mixture.
-
On a floured surface, work and knead to a smooth dough. Cover dough (you can place the empty bowl over it) and let dough rest for an hour.
-
While dough is resting, make filling.
-
To Make Filling:
-
Combine ground walnuts, ground almonds, sesame seeds and honey together in a bowl. Mix until well coated.
-
Preheat oven to 350F (180C).
-
-
Roll out dough to about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into 3 inch squares. Place 1 heaping teaspoon of filling in center of each square.
-
-
Moisten edges with orange flower water or orange juice and cover the filling by folding in the four corners and pressing them firmly together in the center.
-
Bake for about 25 minutes. While cookies are still warm, sprinkle lightly with orange flower water or orange juice and dip in a bowl of confectioners' sugar.
- Dough:
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 4 tablespoons water
- 4 tablespoons orange juice
- Juice of one lemon
- 6 tablespoons white sugar
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Filling:
- 1 cup ground walnuts
- 1 cup ground almonds
- 1 cup sesame seeds
- 1 cup honey
- Confectioners' sugar
- Orange flower water or orange juice for sprinkling
-
Mix together olive oil, water, orange juice, lemon juice and sugar. Set aside. In a large bowl sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Add olive oil mixture to flour mixture.
-
On a floured surface, work and knead to a smooth dough. Cover dough (you can place the empty bowl over it) and let dough rest for an hour.
-
While dough is resting, make filling.
-
To Make Filling:
-
Combine ground walnuts, ground almonds, sesame seeds and honey together in a bowl. Mix until well coated.
-
Preheat oven to 350F (180C).
-
-
Roll out dough to about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into 3 inch squares. Place 1 heaping teaspoon of filling in center of each square.
-
-
Moisten edges with orange flower water or orange juice and cover the filling by folding in the four corners and pressing them firmly together in the center.
-
Bake for about 25 minutes. While cookies are still warm, sprinkle lightly with orange flower water or orange juice and dip in a bowl of confectioners' sugar.