Karkaday iced tea is easy to make and very refreshing on a sweltering hot summer day. It is naturally tart and floral, and it pairs well with any fruity combination you may desire. It can also be served hot. Either way, I love to add honey and mint. My iced version includes lemon slices and frozen summer strawberries to further infuse flavor and nutrients.

Hibiscus tea is quickly making the headlines of medical and health news. It is possibly one of healthiest drinks one can consume with vigorous levels of antioxidants and the single most potent blood pressure reducing food source!

The hibiscus flower used to make this tea is different from the tropical varieties we see throughout gardens in the west. You need dried hibiscus flowers from Egypt to get the authentic karkaday flavor and to use it as a tea. I found a great source for organic hibiscus online from Egypt here.

When brewing loose tea, it is important to use a pesticide free organic version so that you are not leaching harmful chemicals into your drink! I mostly use loose leaf tea nowadays, and for this I simply fill my stainless steel infuser. I love this tea infuser for all my teas.

Now sit back, and imagine you are sipping this tea on the Nile coast on a hot summer day!

If there is only one way to eat meat, it should be kafta kabob. So juicy, tender, flavorful, and perfect with bread, rice, or salad. This kafta is seasoned with spices, onions, peppers, and tomato paste. This is one kafta recipe you can count on for juicy flavor!

Ingredients

I most often use ground beef, but you could combine a mixture of grounf lamb and beef or go all lamb or all beef, depending on your preference. Lamb kafta and beef kafta are often featured as two different options in the Middle East.

Onions are important to the recipe; they add moisture and flavor the meat as it permeates into every piece of the kabob. I ALWAYS strain the onions in a sieve first; the amount of water you can pull out is amazing! This ensures taht the ground meat mixture will bind together and not fall apart because of too much liquid.

I add just a bit of tomato paste, red pepper paste, and minced peppers because these give such a delicious hint of flavors from the grilled veggies we often add to kabob. Their fresh aromatic scent balance the meat from being too heavy and meaty. Try it- you won’t go back to plain beef once you do!

Kafta needs to be shaped and cooked on a skewer. Metal skewers work best because you can easily handle the kabob, and they are reusable. The thicker shape of a metal skewer also gives good heat circulation to cook the kabob evenly and faster. bambook skewers can work, and are easily found at most grocery stores. Just be sure to soak them in water first for about 30 minutes so that they don’t burn!

Cooking kafta on a grill is the BEST way to cook it. The smoky fire flavor is a part of kafta’s deliciousness. In a pinch, or if the weather is not cooperating, you could always cook the kabobs on a cast iron grill indoors. I recommend this one I use by Lodge. It is awesome. It also flips to the other side as a griddle.

Maamoul is a traditional cookie enjoyed throughout the Middle East come Ramadan, Eid, Spring time, Easter, and basically year round. But it is especially imperative during the holidays! Maamoul is a scrumptious butter cookie made with butter, flour, semolina and some rose extract and filled with a delicious and gooey sweet cinnamon spice date filling, or crunchy sweet cinnamon and nut filling.

Truthfully, I never bothered to learn this cookie until I had the delicate and buttery cookie made by an Algerian woman who is a skilled French pastry chef. It is especially smooth and buttery like the pastries dreams are made of. They are truly addictive! She shared the method with me and I have been making it on repeat during this quarantine. The best thing is, these little cookies are not nearly as difficult as I had imagined. I have perfected this recipe using a kitchen scale, to ensure consistent results. So say good-bye to dry, crumbly cookies and get ready for this delicious treat!

Kahk and Maamoul

For a long time, I thought the maamoul I see everywhere is KAHK. My mom always makes kahk for Eid and special occasions and it’s a very special treat that my siblings and I are all nostalgic for during this time of year. The recipe is extra special because it comes from my grandmother, in my mama’s special red recipe book. Growing up in an Egyptian household, which is the minority amongst Arabs in my community I thought, “yea we make maamoul, we just call it kahk”. I was wrong. Kahk is a bit different. Kahk is an Egyptian butter cookie so similar to Maamoul that I simply use this cookie dough until I am ready to venture into the ancient kahk cookie, which dates back to Pharaonic origins! Kahk cookies are a bit more crumbly, very similar to Mexican wedding cookies and include the use of yeast and a spice mixture in the cookie dough that includes a handful of aromatic and sweet spices including: cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, anise, fennel AND nutmeg, all ground finely. The biggest difference between maamoul and kahk- the Egyptian Kahk has a nutty caramel toffee filling called agameyya that is TO DIE FOR.

Ingredients

The recipe is quite basic. To make the actual cookie, I use all purpose flour, fine semolina wheat (do not use coarse!), powdered sugar and good butter. I recommend using a golden yellow natural butter from grass fed cows, such as Kerrygold. I also recommend a high quality floral extract (try orange blossom or lavender extracts as well!) and vanilla powder because these delicate flavors really do come out in this scrumptious cookie. You could always make these smooth buttery cookies empty and enjoy them as is. They are traditionally stuffed with dates as the most common filling, with pistachios being an extra special delicacy.

Date Filling

For the filling I use either a prepared date paste from the Middle Eastern grocery store, pictured below. Or if I happen to have a lot dates on hand, I soak them in boiling water for 2 minutes and then puree them in my food processor. Needless to say the freshly made paste has a more pronounced fragrance and flavor that is oh so sweet like toffee or caramel.

Agameyya Filling

Agameyya is a purely Egyptian filling found only in kahk cookies. If I want to make a more kahk resembling cookie, I toss in some of the kahk spices into the maamoul cookie dough and use this agameyya filling. Agameyya is basically the BEST thing about kahk, and you really ought to try it. It is a homemade caramel-toffee meet Middle Eastern nuts mixture. Sesame, walnuts, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and anise spice combine with butter and honey for a heavenly and gooey filling for these cookies. It is OMG delicious.

Shaping the Cookies

There are many ways to shape maamoul. The most basic way is to roll the ball, flatten it a bit, and then create an indentation on top with a fork or a special pinching tool my grandma had from Egypt:)

The best tip I can offer (especially if you will make these with a group or kids) is to roll all the balls of dough and all the balls of filling. I weigh the first few to make sure I have the right size and then I eyeball it and continue making them in the same size.

To make the cookie with a filling you will use one ball of dough and form an indentation in the center and place the smaller ball of filling inside. Then you tuck in the filling, wrapping it and rolling it completely in the cookie dough. I prepare my workspace by rolling out all the balls of dough and all the balls of filling first. I use about 40 grams of dough for larger shaped cookies and 25-30 grams fro the smaller cookies.

There are many wooden or plastic maamoul molds in most Middle Eastern markets, because it’s a basic necessity I guess. I prefer the wooden molds as the cookie pops out much more easily. With the right flick of the wrist and a hard bang against the baking sheet, the cookie pops out perfectly. Here is one available on Amazon, similar to the one I have.

I also use silicone molds to shape larger rose shaped cookies and my kids love using this one. It is fool proof and easy to pop out. This is a larger mold that holds about 40 grams of cookie dough, so you will also get done sooner, than later!

There are also pressing devices that are so easy to use, even toddlers can participate in the shaping process. Simply place the rolled cookie dough. ball and then this device fits over it and you stamp your cookie!