Name: How To Make Moroccan Chebakia
Prep time: 60 min
Cook time: 20 min
Ingredients: 2/3 cup of Toasted Sesame Seeds; 1/3 cup of Raw Almonds; 4 cups all-purpose flour; 1/2 tsp Cinnamon; 1/2 tsp Ground Fennel Seeds; 1/2 tsp Ground Turmeric; Pinch of salt; 1 tbsp. granulated sugar.; 1/4 tsp of instant yeast; 1 tsp baking powder; 1 tbsp. white vinegar; 1/4 cup vegetable oil; 3 tbsp. room temp butter; 1/3 cup; 1 tbsp. orange blossom water; 1/3 cup lukewarm water; 1 liter vegetable oil; 1 kg Honey

It’s finally here my dear friends. Chebakia. In this recipe post, I will try to guide you as carefully as possible to help you make the best Homemade Chebakia you can make at home. This cookie is an absolute essential during Ramadan and is the ideal pairing to your bowl of Harira soup.

This is not a speedy or easy recipe by any means, but it is the simplest version I could come up with to make Chebakia at home. Chebakia requires lots of practice so I will include a lot of troubleshooting tips and tricks to give you the best chances for success.

Let’s do this!

What is Chebakia ?

Put simply, Chebakia is a fried cookie that is then soaked in honey. The pastry dough resembles a pasta dough and is usually shaped in a way to resemble a flower. Chebakia is enormously popular during the month of Ramadan where most Moroccans like to break their fast with a bowl of Harira, some dates and of course, Chebakia.

Ingredient list

Chebakia is sweet and savory pastry. To get the flavors just right you will need to rely on a delicate balance of spices and aromatics. Here is the full ingredient list:

2/3 cup or 100g of Toasted Sesame Seeds : This is the flavor base of your pastry. Sesame seeds have a very rich and deep flavor that contrasts very well with the spices that we are going to use to make this cookie.
1/3 cup or 50g of Raw Almonds : Almonds provide texture to the crust. They will make your cookie a little more chewy and add strength to your dough.
4 cups or 500g of All-purpose flour: This is the base of any pastry/cookie. Make sure you sift your flour before using.
Spice mix: We are using 1/2 tsp of ground fennel seeds, 1/2 tsp turmeric (for color), 1/2 tsp cinnamon.
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp. granulated sugar.
1/4 tsp of instant yeast : Yeast is not essential to this dough, however, it will make it a lot easier to work with.
1 tsp baking powder : Will help your pastry dough get puffy and airy once it’s frying in the oil.
1 tbsp. white vinegar : plays a crucial role in the leavening process. As your pastries hit the oil, the will rise for a first time because of the heat, and for a second time because of the acidity in the vinegar. Don’t skip this ingredient, it’s very important.
1/4 cup vegetable oil + 3 tbsp. room temp butter (100ml total) : I like to use a mixture of butter and oil and not just oil. Butter has a melting temperature that is just under the human body temperature, which gives baked goods that melt in your mouth feeling when you bite through them. Trust me, use butter.
1/3 cup + 1 tbsp. orange blossom water (100 ml): This is one of the most important ingredients as it contrasts very well with the deep flavors of sesame and the spices we used. Orange blossom water has a very floral flavor profile and is a staple in Moroccan baking.
1/3 cup lukewarm water (about 80 ml-90 ml).

As you can probably tell from the ratio of liquid to dry, this is a very tough dough that is closer to pasta dough than a cookie dough. For that reason, I highly recommend that you use either a food processor or a stand mixer to make your dough.

How to Make Chebakia

To make my dough, I have used a food processor as it makes the whole process so much easier. As stated above, you can also use a stand mixer or a large bowl.

Place your toasted sesame seeds along with your almonds in your food processor and blend until you get fine crumbly texture. The natural oils from your seeds and almonds will make the mixture slightly more moist as seen in the picture above.
Add your flour, spices, butter, oil, sugar, baking powder, yeast and vinegar.
Blend again until you get a very fine sandy like texture. All your ingredients should be very well incorporated at this point. Add in your Orange Blossom water and close the lid on your food processor.
Start blending again and gradually add your water until the dough comes together. Your dough should be very crumbly and should not be sticky or moist. Take it out of your food processor and shape it into a rough looking ball.

If you are doing this stage by hand (you’re going to need a regular blender for your seeds and almonds), here is what you need to do:

In a blender, add your almonds and seeds and blend until you get a fine crumbly texture.
Move your mixture to a large bowl and add your flour, spices, butter, oil, sugar, baking powder, yeast and vinegar.
Roughly mix all ingredients together. Using the palms of your hands press the ingredients together until you get a fine crumbly mixture. Take your time to do this step as it is very important that the fats from the butter and oil are very well incorporated into the dough to ensure that your chebakia comes out soft and chewy.
Add your Orange blossom water and mix again. Now slowly add in your water and knead until you form you dough. Make sure that the water is fully incorporated into the mixture and that dough has evenly absorbed it.

Wrap your dough ball in plastic and let it rest for 15-20 minutes.
Divide into 4 and roll your each part until it is about 15-“17” long. Fold it on it self like an envelope, cover in plastic and let it rest for about 5 minutes. The purpose of this step is to shap the dough into a squarish shape to help us with the final roll.
After 5 minutes, take one dough square and put in on your working surface envelope side down. Roll your dough to a long rectangle shape until it gets to 1-2 mm thickness. The width of the dough should be around 7″-8″. Using a knife, remove the uneven edges to ensure that you have a perfect rectangle.
Divide your dough in half, lengthwise and set aside.

This is definitely the trickiest part of the entire process. Take your time, don’t get frustrated, the more you this the better you will get.

Using a pastry wheel, make four evenly spaced cuts lengthwise. These cuts should should not cut through to the edges of the dough, and should leave about 1/4″ on each side. The fifth cut should cut all the through to mark the end of the rectangle. If done correctly, your rectangles will each have five strips of attached dough.
Grab one rectangle and slide your index finger under the first, third and fifth strip. Pinch together the ends of your rectangle around the tip of your index finger.
Keep holding on to the pinched tips and carefully remove your index finger.
Pass The pinched tips through the space where your index finger used to be and carefully pull the pinched ends to form the center of your flower.
Pinch the end pieces together and gently pull them outward.
Cut off the excess using a pair of scissors.

Once you would have formed all of your cookies, make cover and let them rest for at least 30 minutes. This is a crucial step as the longer they rest, the better they will hold their shape once in the frying pan.
Heat up a pan to medium-high and add 1L of frying oil to it. Fry your Chebakia for at least 3-4 minutes or until golden brown like shown in the picture. Make sure to flip your Chebakia after 1-2 minutes of frying. If you like your Chebakia to be less dark, then fry for about 2-3 minutes maximum.
Dunk your Chebakia in a pot of room-temp honey. Let them sit there for about 4-5 minutes.
Remove from honey pot and place on parchment paper. Add another drizzle of honey and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Troubleshooting Tips

My dough is a too hard and I can’t roll it properly : make sure that you let your dough rest long enough for the gluten to relax. If you have a pasta roller, you can use it to make this process even easier.

My Chebakia opened up and completely fell apart in the frying pan: you need to let your chebakia rest longer once shaped to ensure that it holds it shape. Always fry with the first ones you shaped to allow even more resting time to the other one.

My Chebakia is taking a long time time to cook : Make sure that you do not over-crowd the pan. Only fry 4-6 at a time to maintain the temperature of your oil.

How do I store my Chebakia ? Once cooled down and drizzled, store in an airtight container. Make sure you drizzle it again with honey before you put away for good. Your Chebakia should keep for at least 1 week. After that, it will begin to dry up. It will still be safe to consume, and taste good, but it will not be anywhere as good.

Can I freeze my Chebakia ? Yes. Once you shape your flowers, you can freeze your chebakia. My advice is cover the Chebakia tray with film and freeze. Then, remove from freezer and place into Ziplocs and back in the freezer. This will ensure that your Chebakia will hold its shape in the Ziploc bags.

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