These simple recipes take little time to prepare and are fun for both children and parents.
These are long-lasting cookies.
Store yours in a tin and away from moisture.
Montecao (Spain)
These little orange-flavored cookies melt in your mouth like candy
The shopping basket for a few cookies:
250g flour
75g caster sugar
100g sunflower oil
1 pinch of cinnamon
1 pinch of turmeric powder
1 tbsp orange blossom water
1 tbsp chopped orange zest
1 tbsp Cointreau
Mix the ingredients and form small balls of dough, flattening them slightly with your thumb to form a small indentation.
Bake in a 170°C oven for 5 to 7 minutes.
Pumpkin Seed Cookies (Europe)
A variation of the almond tuile, this recipe also makes crispy tuiles, tulips, or cigarettes.
The shopping basket for a few cookies
2 egg whites
100g caster sugar
20g flour + 10g split pea flour OR 30g flour
35g melted butter
Mix all the ingredients and form small mounds of dough on a sheet of buttered parchment paper with a teaspoon. Space them out and spread the dough out a little on the sheet.
Bake the cookies until the edges are nicely browned in a 180°C oven. Their texture when removed from the oven allows them to be carefully rolled like cigarettes.
Monenath (Egypt)
It's rare to bite into cookies with a sour taste unless they contain lemon. The hibiscus flower has this surprising acidity for our taste buds.
The shopping basket for a few cookies
250g flour
4g baking powder
1 tsp oil
1 tbsp hibiscus powder
30g caster sugar
The filling
50g date or fig paste at room temperature
1 tsp softened butter
1 dash of vanilla extract
Mix all the ingredients and let sit in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
Using a spoon, fold the softened butter and vanilla into the fig paste.
Shape small circles about 5mm thick and 7cm in diameter from the dough rolled out on a lightly floured work surface.
Place a small mound of fruit paste in the center and close by folding the edges together as you would a ravioli.
Shape as many filled cookies as there is remaining dough. Arranged on a sheet of baking paper, cook in an oven at 170° for 8 to 10 minutes.
Nan-e nokhodchi (Iran)
Made of chickpea flour, this spiced shortbread takes many forms in Iran. It's the perfect afternoon tea cookie.
Shopping basket for a few cookies
250g chickpea flour
100g pumpkin seed oil or 100g neutral oil
125 g icing sugar
2 tsp green cardamom powder
1 pinch turmeric powder
Pistachios, blanched and crushed, for decoration
Lukewarm water
In a mixer bowl, combine the flour, icing sugar, and spices.
Add the oil and lukewarm water to form a smooth dough.
Let rest at room temperature, covered, for 2 hours. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1 cm. Cut into small circles, squares, or lozenges. Sprinkle pistachios over each cookie.
Bake in a 160°C oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before storing in a tin.