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Şekerpare

Each ball is pressed with the thumb and an almond set in the hollow, which is also what stops it doming.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter).

Ingredients

the dough

the syrup

Method

  1. EACH BALL IS PRESSED WITH THE THUMB AND AN ALMOND SET IN THE HOLLOW, which is not only decoration. A ball of this dough put in the oven as a ball rises into a dome and cracks across the top, and the cracks let the syrup straight into the middle so it collapses. Pressed firmly with the thumb to make a dimple and an almond pushed into it, the dough is anchored at the centre, spreads outward instead of upward, and bakes as a flat-topped round that holds together under the syrup. The almond is doing structural work.
  2. IT IS HALF SEMOLINA AND THAT IS WHAT GIVES THE TEXTURE. Two hundred grams of fine semolina to two hundred of flour. Semolina absorbs syrup without turning to paste -- it stays faintly grainy and distinct -- where an all-flour biscuit goes either hard or soggy. It is the reason this survives being soaked at all.
  3. THE DOUGH IS BROUGHT TOGETHER AND NOT KNEADED. Butter and sugar creamed, egg in, then the dry ingredients folded and pressed together with the hands for a few turns only. Worked further, the gluten develops and the baked biscuits are tough and refuse the syrup.
  4. IT IS RESTED HALF AN HOUR BEFORE SHAPING. The semolina needs time to take up moisture from the butter and egg. Shaped immediately, the dough is crumbly and the balls crack as they are dimpled.
  5. HOT BISCUITS, COOL SYRUP, AND POURED OVER IN THE TRAY. The syrup made first and cooled; the biscuits come out of the oven and the syrup goes over them while they are still in the hot tin. They absorb all of it over a few hours -- this is one where none is poured away, which is why the quantity is what it is for twelve servings.
  6. THEY ARE LEFT FOUR HOURS AND THE SYRUP IS NOT HURRIED. Uncovered. They go from hard biscuits to soft, syrup-laden cakes over that time, and testing one after an hour will find a dry middle and tempt you to add more syrup, which then makes them collapse.
  7. The syrup ingredients boiled 12 MINUTES and LEFT TO COOL COMPLETELY.
  8. The butter and icing sugar creamed, then the egg beaten in.
  9. The semolina, flour and baking powder FOLDED in and pressed together with the hands for a few turns only. NOT kneaded.
  10. RESTED 30 MINUTES.
  11. Rolled into 24 balls and set well apart in a lined tin.
  12. Each PRESSED FIRMLY with the thumb to make a dimple, and an ALMOND pushed into it.
  13. Baked at 170°C for 25 to 28 MINUTES, until golden and firm.
  14. The COOL syrup poured over the HOT biscuits in the tin, all of it.
  15. LEFT UNCOVERED 4 HOURS, until all the syrup has been taken up.
  16. TESTED: each should be soft right through and still hold its shape. Collapsed or cracked ones were not dimpled firmly enough.
  17. Served at room temperature.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Turkey · All recipes