Mad Tea Party – A Bohemian Repast

It’s time for A Fanciful Twist’s 8^th Annual Mad Tea Party!

Come! Come in out of the heat and sit for a spell. Brush the dust off your weary feet and leave your worries at the door. 

Dip your head beneath the silk veils and lounge in my quiet corner. If we are lucky, there may even be a tale or two…

Here, have a glass of mint tea.

Refresh yourself with succulent oranges and sticky roasted figs drowning in cream. Mmmm…that should please a Jinnee or two.

Can you smell it?

The fragrant perfume of orange blossoms and sweet mint is wafting in through my humble door, and the summer air is redolent with the savory scent of toasted almonds, the warm spice of cinnamon, and the citrusy aroma of cardamom.

That would be the sweetmeats and confections, fresh from the oven and dripping in sugar syrup. With recipes hailing from Morocco and Lebanon and Israel (with a few of my own special twists thrown in), we’re sure to have a delicious afternoon.

Just-sweet-enough ma’amoul cookies…fig and orange centers coated with a crumbly semolina shortbread and dusted with powdered sugar.

The cake of many names…whether it’s called basbousa, namoura, or revani, this semolina and coconut cake soaked in syrup is fit for a sheikha.

Tales of Shahrazád and her one thousand and one nights float through the room.

With an empty teapot and only sticky crumbs left on our plates, it may be time for a nap…and maybe a midafternoon hafla?

Who needs tales when life is as mouthwatering and magical as it is?

I have read that ma’amoul are celebration cookies, prevalent all over the Middle East, where they are made for both Muslim and Christian holidays. Traditionally shaped in decorative wooden molds and stuffed with dates or nuts, I have taken a liberty by stuffing my ma’amoul with ground figs (not unheard of, but not as customary it seems). Shaping them by hand is relatively easy, if not a bit time consuming. But it can be relaxing on a quiet morning. They are the perfect complement to tea or coffee.

Ma’amoul (Yield: 14 cookies)

Dough

3/4 c. flour

1/4 c. semolina flour

1 tbsp. powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

5 tbsp. butter, at room temperature

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

2 tbsp. whole milk

1 tsp. orange blossom water

1. Stir together the dry ingredients in a bowl, making sure everything is fully incorporated.
2. Using a fork, smash in the butter, smearing it into the flour mixture until it becomes sandy.
3. Pour in the oil, milk, and orange blossom water, and fold the ingredients together until you have a homogenous dough. Allow it to sit while you make the filling.

Filling

Heavy 1/4 c. chopped walnuts

Heavy 1/4 c. chopped dried figs (about 5 dried figs)

1” piece of orange rind, pith removed and cut into thin strips

1/8 tsp. cardamom

1/8 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. fig preserves

1. Place all the ingredients, besides the preserves, in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until everything becomes finely ground.
2. Add the preserves and pulse until the mixture clumps together and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

To assemble the ma’amoul:

1. Preheat the oven to 325º F and line a baking sheet with parchment or a nonstick mat.
2. On a lightly floured board, divide the dough into fourteen equally sized portions and roll them into balls.
3. Do the same with the fig mixture. You’ll use about a teaspoon of mixture for each portion, and they will come together like little truffles.
4. Take a ball of dough and flatten it in your palm to make about a 2 1/2-3” circle.
5. Place a fig “truffle” into the center of the dough, pinch the sides of the dough together around it, making a little package. Roll the whole thing together between your palms until it is smooth, and then slightly flatten the top of the cookie. Prick the top with a fork. Place it on the baking sheet, and then repeat the process for the rest of the cookies. Leave about 1 1/2" between the cookies. 
6. Bake the cookies for 30 minutes, or until the bottoms are very slightly golden. Allow them to cool and then dust with powdered sugar.

Take a peek at last year’s mad tea adventure!

Sources:

Barbey, William, Edward William Lane, and Edward Stanley Poole. The Thousand and One Nights, Commonly Called, in England, The Arabian Nights' Entertainments. London: Routledge, Warne and Routledge, 1865. Print.

Roden, Claudia. The New Book of Middle Eastern Food. New York: Knopf, 2000. Print.