Thursday, August 4, 2011

Semolina Prune Cookies Recipe

Semolina prune cookies
Semolina cookies are not very well known but they do exist in some cultures. The Indians have a version called Nan Khatai cookies. Nan Khatai cookies have semolina, almond and cardamom. The Lebanese also have a version of semolina cookies called Ma’mouls.  Ma’mouls are made with semolina flour, flavored with rose water and orange blossom water and stuffed with dates, pistachios, almonds or walnuts. Ma’mouls are served during Easter and are shaped like cones that resemble the crown that Christ wore on the cross.

My version of the semolina prune cookies are crunchy while the prunes give the cookies a slight stickiness or chewiness, as well as great flavour. 

Dried fruit sticking to your teeth is probably not to everyones liking. This problem can be easily fixed by replacing chocolate chips with 'prune chips’. You will end up with semolina chocolate chip cookies. Since semolina adds a crunchy texture to cookies the semolina chocolate chip cookies will be the crispy version, not the chewy version. If you want a chewy version you will have to work the dough and let it rest for up to 3 days.

In the recipe you can use either butter or oil, or a mixture of both. I used a mixture of coconut and rapeseed oil and it worked great. If you are using oil it will be difficult to mix sugar and oil together until the sugar dissolves. Don't worry, if the sugar goes not dissolve it will dissolve when you add the eggs and mix them at the next step. 

If the dough looks too soft, it will become dryer rather quickly as the semolina and flour absorb the extra liquid. 

Ingredients
½ cup butter or oil 
½ cup sugar (I used slightly less)
1 cup semolina
1 cup flour
1 large egg
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ - 1 cup chopped prunes
1 teaspoon molasses (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Directions
1.  Heat oven to 180 degrees celcius
2.  Cream butter/oil, sugar and molasses until the mixture turns pale and the sugar has dissolved. 
3.  Add egg and vanilla extract and mix thoroughly
4.  Add sifted flour, semolina and baking powder and mix well
5. Fold in the chopped prunes
6.  Place discs or small balls on a greased cookie sheet and flatten.
7.  Bake until cookies are golden brown and delicious, about 12-15 minutes

Semolina prune cookies

10 comments:

  1. Oooohh... I love semolina cookies, great texture! I'm definitely making this one but substituting the prunes with dates instead. Tons of dates here at the moment due to Ramadhan season. Question: do I use melted butter or softened butter and do I cream it with the sugar or just stir them together? Ta. Can't wait to make these!

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  2. This sounds really good! I have never baked cookies with prunes before, but I love the idea... and I bet the semolina gives the cookies great texture! I am bookmarking this, and I hope I get to make it soon.. Thanks for sharing!

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  3. PS - How can I receive updates from this blog? I don't see a link to your RSS feed or an email subscription box anywhere... I really would like updates, because I have missed out a lot of your recipes already! Let me know, if you can, at foofoofoodie(at)gmail(dot)com

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  4. Your semolina cookies look really delicious!

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  5. ping: sorry for being unclear. Use soft butter and cream together with sugar. It should work really well with dates too, you are lucky to have tons of them around at the moment. I love dates (both the fruits and the social activity!)

    The Harried Cook: Here are the RSS feeds for Atom 1 and RSS. Please let me know if these don't work:

    Atom 1.0: http://easilygoodeats.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

    RSS 2.0: http://easilygoodeats.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

    Elra: thank you, they were!

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  6. Really interesting recipe - I am definitely going to try these.

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  7. Cher: thank you. I would be curious to hear your reactions

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  8. Thanks for the nice blog. It was very useful for me. Keep sharing such ideas in the future as well. This was actually what I was looking for and I am glad to came here! Thanks for sharing the such information with us
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