Salty Cookies - Caa'k

This is a North African cookies called Caa'k are the best cookies next to beer or cheese platter.

I have to warn you, it's hard to stop eating them !!!


Ingredients:
Makes 70 cookies

• 6 cupד flour
• 4 stick margarine
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 1/4 cups warm water
• 1 large egg lightly beaten
• sesame seeds

For the dough:
In a mixer bowl mix together all the ingredients to a soft butter.

Cover the dough and refrigerate for one hour.

Heat oven to 350 degree, line 2 baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray.

Take a piece of dough tennis ball sized and roll it into a rope. Pinch the ends of the rope together to form a ring. Repeat until all the dough has been formed into rings.

To glaze the cookies:
Whisk the egg and then brush each ring with the beaten egg, pour the sesame seeds on the top of the cookies. Place the rings seeds side up.

Bake rings until lightly browned, about 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer from baking sheet and cool on wire racks.

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Mafrom - Stuffed eggplant

This recipe is from the middle east cuisine, actually, north Africa.
Usually on Friday nights, when all the family gathers together for dinner, my mother prepare this dish. It may be a little complected, but the taste and the smell alone makes all the hard work totally worth it!

2 large eggplant
1 large egg beaten
1 cup flour

Stuffing:
1/2 pound ground beef
1 chopped onion
1/2 cup parsley
1 clove garlic
2 small tomato paste
salt paper
red paprika

Direction:
Cut the eggplant to round pieces, pour some salt and let it stay for one hour (the eggplant will dribble their bitterns).

Wash them and dry them well
In a large bowel mix the meat with the onion the parsley and the garlic add salt and paper and mix it with the hands to complete mixture.
make small balls , meat balls.
take one piece of the dry eggplant and put the meat balls on top of it, dip the eggplant and the meat in the egg beaten plate and then in the flour plate and fry them both side until golden brown.

In a large pan with one tbsp oil saute the onion , mix the tomato paste with 2 cups boiling water and add to the onion, add red paprika and salt and put the stuffed eggplant on the tomato sauce, keep doing this until all the eggplant in the pan.


Pour on top of them the rest tomato paste mixing with hot boiling water salt and paparica and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Bon Apetit !

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Jersuaelem Bagel

This Jerusalem bagel is a combination of a pretzel and a bagel
the kind of bagel that you would find only in the old city Jerusalem
the smell entraps everyone who comes by.

I have searched for this recipes all over until yesterday I finally found the perfect one !

I was surprised how easy it was to make and the kids and I enjoyed it so much that today we are going to make another batch of Jerusalem Bagels.

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups white flour
• 1 envelope of dry yeast
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp oil
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 egg
  
• Sesame seed
• poppy seeds
• sugar
  

In a large mixing bowel put together the flour sugar salt yeast and oil and mix it, add the water and keep mix it together until it becomes a ball of dough.
grease a large bowel with oil and put the dough to raise for 2 hours.



after two hours make 5 small balls from the dough open each one of them with your thumb to make a small hole increase the hole until you have a long pretzel but not to longer then the oven tray.

brush the bagel with egg , spread sesame seed salt and Zatar if you want and bake for 20 min. or until the bagel become golden brown..

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