Date Ka'ak Rings
The recipe is for date-filled ka'ak rings made with a dough scented with anise, fennel, mahlab, and mastic. It is prepared with flour, semolina, powdered milk, powdered sugar, ghee, olive oil, and anise water, with a little water as needed. It is filled with ground dates, shaped into rings, moistened and coated with sesame seeds, then baked in the oven at 250°C until golden.
A baked Middle Eastern ring-shaped cookie or bread made with dates.
Similar to a sweet ring cookie filled or flavored with date paste.
Ingredients
- half a kilo (3.5 cups) Flour
- half a kilo Ground dates
- half a cup Fine ferkha semolina
- quarter cup Powdered milk
- quarter cup Powdered sugar
- three-quarters cup (150 g) Ghee
- quarter cup Olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Ground fennel
- 1 teaspoon Ground anise
- 1 teaspoon Nigella seeds
- 1½ tablespoons Toasted sesame seeds
- half a teaspoon Yeast
- 3 grains Mastic
- 1 teaspoon Mahleb
- three-quarters cup (150 ml) Boiled anise water
- quarter cup Water
- a little Sugar
- 1 spoonful of ghee Arabic ghee or animal ghee for the filling
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, fine semolina, powdered milk, powdered sugar, yeast, nigella seeds, ground fennel, ground anise, mahleb, sesame seeds, and mastic ground with a little sugar.
- In the same mixing bowl, add the olive oil, ghee, and anise water to the dry ingredient mixture.
- In the same mixing bowl, add a quarter cup of water if the dough needs it, then knead until the dough reaches a suitable consistency.
- In the same mixing bowl, let the dough rest for a quarter of an hour.
- In another bowl, knead the ground dates with a spoonful of ghee.
- On a shaping surface, shape the dates into cylinders for the filling.
- On the shaping surface, take a piece of dough and flatten it, then fill it with dates and shape it into a ring.
- On a baking tray, arrange the prepared ka'ak pieces without greasing the tray.
- In a small bowl, moisten the surface of the ka'ak with water, then dip it in sesame seeds.
- In the oven, bake the ka'ak at 250°C on the lower rack until cooked through, then brown the tops if needed.