In Armenia pine nuts are widely used in the kitchen. Usually you will find them in savory dishes, but I chopped them coarsely for my variation on the classic shakarshee cookie. I mixed the flour with semolina – a coarsely ground durum wheat – that is used in the popular Armenian cake / dessert hareesa. I poured a sweet sugar syrup over the cookies just as it is done with hareesa and baklava. The result is a delicious buttery cookie with the subtle flavor of pine nuts. The lemon in the dough and in the syrup give the cookie a nice citrus kick. The syrup makes the texture a little bit softer. Served with a dollop of whipped cream this pine nut and lemon cookie should make a very tasty sweet dessert. I wish I still had a few left over to test!
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Pine nut and lemon cookie
for about 25 cookies/em>
125 grams (1 stick + 1 tbs) soft butter
100 grams (1 scant cup) icing sugar
1 egg yolk
100 grams (¾ cup) semolina
75 grams (½ cup) flour
pinch of salt
40 grams (½ cup) pine nuts, roughly chopped + extra for decoration
grated rind and juice of 1 (organic) lemon
110 grams (1 cup) sugar
½ cup water
Beat the butter with the icing sugar until light and creamy.
Add the egg yolk and beat well.
Mix in the flour and salt. Preheat the oven to 150°C / 300°F.
Add the pine nuts and the grated rind of the lemon and quickly form into a soft dough.
Form small sticks of about 20 grams / 1 heaped tablespoon of dough and place on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Press some pine nuts on each cookie and bake for 15-20 min. until done and still light in color. Let cool on the baking sheet.
Bring ½ cup water, the lemon juice and the sugar to the boil in a saucepan and leave to simmer for about 5 min. Place the cookies on a rack on a baking tray. Pour over the syrup and let cool completely.
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