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Algerian Eid Sweets: Maqrout Al Louz and Hareesa


Hello everyone! It's that time of the year again..yes, time to make delicious Eid sweets. I didn't try anything different this year, just perfected my mom's recipes which she has used for years and years (as if they can get any more perfect!). Because of my busy school schedule, and with the Ramadan holiday, I only had time to make two types of sweets, and my mom made the rest. I know last year I only gave you recipes (which by the way made some major revisions to so don't use those old recipes, use these!) but this year, I took step by step photos to really assist you in making these sweets at home.

Let's start with the very simple, Maqrout Al Louz. 

The ingredients for the dough are as follows:

3 cups of ground blanched almonds (peeled and dried....this process takes FOREVER!)

1 cup sugar, not filled to the brim (not filled to the brim was a little more than 3/4 cup)

Zest of one lemon

Two eggs

Mix the dry ingredients together (almonds, sugar, and lemon zest). Add the eggs, one at a time to the mixture, kneading it together until a soft dough forms.

This is how the dough should look like after you're done mixing all the ingredient.


The next thing you are going to do is prepare the baking pan. Cover it with a sheet of aluminum foil and sprinkle some flour on top.

 
Next, sprinkle some flour on the table and grab a handful of dough, and roll it out, VERY LIGHTLY. Do not squish it down, or else the shape won't come out correctly.

 
Then, cut the dough into diamond shapes like this.

 
See?

 
Ready to go in the oven.
 
Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until their bottom edges appear to be getting brown.

I may or may not have left them in the oven a little too long...eek! You see this picture below? Their bottoms should NOT be that dark.
 
Their bottoms should look like this. 

To make the icing, beat one egg white until light and fluffy. Beat in one teaspoon of lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of rose water, and then add powdered sugar gradually, until the mixture becomes thick, like cake batter.

This is how it should look like. ( And just in case your icing is running low, just add more rose water and powdered sugar)
 
To dip the cookies, put them face first into the icing, making sure all the sides are getting coated. MAKE SURE THE BOTTOM DOESNT SLIP INTO THE ICING!

 
I got a little creative :)

Let them dry overnight, and then you can break off the extra icing because it will harden.

Next, we will make Harissa.

There's only four ingredients!
2 cups finely ground blanched almonds
1 cup sugar
1 teacup of melted butter
Orange blossom water

The first step is to pour the sugar into a small saucepan and cover it with orange blossom water ( just make sure all the sugar is wet)

Let it come to a boil, then when it boils, keep it on the heat for a few more minutes, until it starts making bubbles like this.

 
Then, you are going stir in a teacup of melted butter.

 
Next, add the almonds. This is how the ground almonds should look like.

 
So basically, you're just going to keep adding the ground almonds, gradually. And keep stirring because if the almonds clump up, it's not going to be pretty.


 
Keep stirring until the mixture becomes thick, but MAKE SURE it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

 
Turn off the stove, then add whatever food coloring you prefer.

 
Then, pour the mixture into a large plate. 



Let the mixture cool a little bit, enough for you to be able to pick it up without burning your hand. Don't wait too long to because then the shapes won't come out right.

Stay tuned for the official revelation of all our Eid sweets this year!

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2 comments:

  1. Aslamu alakum
    these look great , you have explained well and used an easy method to expain thank you . Hope you had a wonderful Eid BTW

    ReplyDelete
  2. essalam alaikum sis,

    masha'allah two of my favorite cookies!

    ReplyDelete

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