Recipe: Irmikli Hurma Tatlisi (date-shaped semolina dessert cookies)

the appetizer:

Though Turkish cuisine is a fusion of Turk, Arabic, Persian, Central Asian and Greek cuisines, there are also many regional differences in Turkey's cooking, from the Black Sea's corn and fish to the eastern region's mezes and kebabs.

Turkey

Irmikli Hurma Tatlisi
(date-shaped semolina dessert cookies)

Makes about 3 dozen

Sugar syrup:
2-2/3 cup sugar
2-1/3 cups water
1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed

Dough:
2/3 cup margarine
2/3 cup milk
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup semolina
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-2/3 cups unbleached flour
2/3 cups walnuts, very finely chopped
grated coconut or finely chopped pistachios for decoration

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare syrup first. Boil sugar and water 10 minutes. Remove from burner and add lemon juice. Bring to boil again and let cool. To prepare dough, melt margarine in saucepan and remove from heat. Add milk, sugar, baking soda and vanilla. Mix well. Stir in semolina. Slowly add flour and mix well. To make cookies, form an oval from 1 tablespoon dough. Make a lengthwise groove and fill it with ground walnuts. Pinch dough together around the nuts. Bake on lightly oiled cookie sheet about 30 minutes, or until light brown. Remove cookies from oven and pour cool syrup over them. When the syrup is absorbed, remove cookies from pan and decorate with coconut or pistachios.

From Eat Smart In Turkey. Reprinted by permission of Ginkgo Press.