Syrian Almond Cookies

Ingredients

• 1½ liters [1½ kilos] whole milk
• 150 g [¾ cup] sugar
• 60 g [3 tablespoons] flour
• 50 g [3 tablespoons] cornstarch
• ¼ cup orange blossom water
• 3 pieces mastic
• about 1 tablespoon butter
• a little sugar sugar for grinding the mastic
• as desired finely grated almonds, for garnish
• as desired Aleppo pistachios, for garnish
• optional vanilla

Instructions

1. Take about 1 cup of cold milk in a bowl and dissolve the cornstarch and flour in it.
2. Stir the cold milk mixture with the cornstarch and flour in the bowl; some flour lumps may remain.
3. Grind the mastic with a little sugar in a grinder, as mastic does not grind finely easily without sugar.
4. Put the remaining milk in a pot over the heat until it warms.
5. Add the sugar to the hot milk in the pot.
6. Add the mastic ground with sugar to the hot milk in the pot.
7. Strain the cold milk mixture with flour and cornstarch through a sieve as it is added to the pot of hot milk.
8. Stir the mixture in the pot over the heat continuously after adding the flour and cornstarch mixture.
9. Leave the mixture in the pot until it comes to a slight boil and thickens.
10. Add the orange blossom water to the mixture in the pot after it has boiled slightly.
11. Add about 1 tablespoon of butter to the mixture in the pot at the end as an optional personal addition.
12. Stir the mixture in the pot continuously after adding the orange blossom water and butter, while lowering the heat underneath.
13. Turn off the heat under the pot once the consistency is suitable.
14. Remove the pot from the gas burner after turning off the heat.
15. Pour out the mixture, then leave it to cool slightly if you want to garnish it.
16. Place the dish in the refrigerator if you want to serve it cold.
17. Once cooled, garnish the dish with finely grated almonds or Aleppo pistachios in the serving dish.