Barazek
Biscuits from Damascus whose two-sidedness is the whole idea: a sesame-crusted top and a base covered in green pistachios. They are not very sweet — sugar is kept low so that toasted sesame and pistachio carry the flavour. The secret lies in two details: the sesame sticks to the dough thanks to honey water, and the pistachios are pressed into the other, dry side. They are baked pistachio side down so the nuts cannot scorch.
Your own work in that: 20 min.
- Dough 20 min
- Chilling 60 min
- Coating 20 min
- Baking 32 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneCream the butter with icing sugar
Cream the soft butter with the icing sugar for 3 minutes, until pale. Icing sugar, not granulated — crystals would not dissolve in so little liquid and the biscuits would come out gritty inside.
Ingredients: 350 g plain flour · 180 g butter · 90 g icing sugar · 1 pcs egg · 3 tbsp milk · ½ tsp baking powder · ½ tsp salt · ½ tsp mahleb
Add egg, milk and flour
Beat in the egg, milk, mahleb and salt, then the flour with the baking powder, mixing only until combined. The dough should be soft and slightly tacky. Worked longer it develops gluten and loses its shortness.
Ingredients: 350 g plain flour · 180 g butter · 90 g icing sugar · 1 pcs egg · 3 tbsp milk · ½ tsp baking powder · ½ tsp salt · ½ tsp mahleb
Chill the dough for an hour
Wrap in film and chill an hour. Warm dough cannot hold the coatings — the balls spread in your hands and the seeds slide off as you move them to the tray. Cold dough holds its shape.
Ingredients: 350 g plain flour · 180 g butter · 90 g icing sugar · 1 pcs egg · 3 tbsp milk · ½ tsp baking powder · ½ tsp salt · ½ tsp mahleb
Spread the pistachios in a flat layer
Heat the oven to 180°C and line baking sheets with paper. Scatter the chopped pistachios in an even layer on a tray. They must lie flat and dense, because you press the biscuit into them only once — a second attempt tears off the first seeds that stuck.
Ingredients: 150 g sesame seeds · 120 g pistachios · 2 tbsp honey · 4 tbsp water
An even dense layer — you press the biscuit down just once.Mix honey with water
Stir the honey into warm water. This is the glue for the sesame: the dough itself is too rich for the seeds to hold, and after baking the sesame would slide off the top at the first touch.
Ingredients: 150 g sesame seeds · 120 g pistachios · 2 tbsp honey · 4 tbsp water
Dip in honey water and roll in sesame
Shape walnut-sized balls, dip one side in the honey water and roll that side in the sesame, pressing. The sesame should cover it completely, with no dough showing through.
Ingredients: 150 g sesame seeds · 120 g pistachios · 2 tbsp honey · 4 tbsp water
Honey water is the glue — without it sesame will not hold.Press the other side into the pistachios
Turn the ball over and press the dry side into the pistachios, flattening it to about 7 mm thick. The pressing shapes them at the same time — the biscuits must be flat, since thick ones stay doughy inside.
Ingredients: 150 g sesame seeds · 120 g pistachios · 2 tbsp honey · 4 tbsp water
One press shapes the biscuit and sets the pistachios.Bake pistachio side down
Set them pistachio side down and bake 14–16 minutes at 180°C, until the sesame on top is golden. They will not all fit on one sheet — bake in batches, about 30 minutes in total. Underneath, the pistachios cannot scorch and keep their green; on top they would brown quickly.
Ingredients: 150 g sesame seeds · 120 g pistachios · 2 tbsp honey · 4 tbsp water
Before you start
The sesame must be raw
Buy raw sesame, not pre-toasted — already toasted it burns in the oven and turns bitter. The entire effect depends on the seeds toasting exactly as the biscuit bakes, along with it.
Mahleb gives the Syrian note
Mahleb, the ground kernels of St Lucie cherry stones, brings a delicate almond-and-cherry aroma typical of much Middle Eastern baking. Half a teaspoon is enough — too much turns bitter. Without it the biscuits are good but neutral.
Three weeks in a tin
Barazek keep three weeks in an airtight tin and stay crisp, being low in moisture. Layer them with paper so the pistachios do not rub off onto neighbours. Do not refrigerate — the butter hardens and they lose their shortness.
