I'm sure in every Arab country has its own recipe for kahk, I will tell you how to make kahk in Egypt. But first I want to share with you information about interesting spices called Mahlab (mahleb, mahlepi). The seeds of wild cherry from the rose family. The fruits of this cherries are not popular but are highly valued core of her bones, which combines flavors of bitter almond and cherry. Immediately before making the test kernel cherries you need to chop (I do it in the blender attachment for grinding spices or coffee grinder). Very aromatic spice, which I was lucky enough to discover. Mahlab - a traditional spice, used for kahk.

I use a glass 250 ml Draw your attention to the fact that the dough is mixed without the use of sugar.
In a large bowl, mix the flour, mahleb (you can substitute vanilla), salt and 0.5 tbsp of sesame seeds.

Kahk traditionally cooked in ghee, which are very popular in Egypt. Butter here is almost not used. On medium heat bring to boil a Cup of melted butter (but do not boil). Pour the hot oil into flour, mixing thoroughly until cool.

Dissolve yeast and sugar in a quarter Cup of warm water. Once yeast mixture is covered with cap - add it in a fully cooled dough.

Parts carefully add the remaining 3/4 Cup of warm water. Depending on the flour water can leave less. Be careful with the water because the extra flour to add, of course, possible, but not very desirable, it can make kahk harsh, when we need the cookies were airy and soft. Again, it all depends on the flour. I sometimes had to add.

Start patiently kneading the dough, take your time. In this step it is very important that the flour mixture with melted butter was completely cooled, as warm, knead it is not so easy without adding too much extra flour. The dough is ready once it is smooth, pliable and will be easy to lag behind the hands.

I kneaded for about 20 minutes. Leave the dough to rest in bowl covered with towel, for at least 3 hours, but preferably overnight.

Now let's learn how to prepare traditional toppings for kahk - date paste. In one of the recipes I already wrote about this stuffing, but happy to repeat here. Date paste is extremely popular in the Arab world. It is prepared from soft figs with a thin dark brown (black) skin. These dates are sweet by themselves, so the pasta is not added sugar. Pasta ready to sell, but I prefer to do it myself. Thoroughly wash the dates, fingers removing rough skin, stalk and seeds. We need 1 full Cup peeled dates. Skip dates through a meat grinder (a blender will not handle it) to a paste (if necessary, noise 2-3 times, depending on the softness of dates). Try toothpaste on the sweetness and lack of lumps. Add in the paste 0.5 tsp. of cinnamon and 1 tbsp sesame seeds, mash it thoroughly between the palms of our mass, then add 1.5 tbsp of vegetable oil and kneaded into a paste, like dough, until completely absorbed dates oil. It turns out fragrant natural date paste, which is widely used in the Maghreb in the manufacture of biscuits. If the dates are too hard and not sweet, we can offer the following toppings (additional ingredients in the list are not indicated): 1 Cup cleaned washed and finely chop dates and pour 0.3 cups of water, add 0.3 cups sugar (depending on sweetness of dates), cook on medium heat for 5 minutes, cool and blend in a blender (be careful with the blender cannot cope). Add 0.5 tsp. of cinnamon and 1 tbsp of sesame seeds, stir, add 0.5-1 tbsp vegetable oil depending on the consistency of mashed potatoes - it should be thick.

Now start shaping the cookies. Will skatiem dough balls the size of a walnut, and date paste balls slightly smaller in size. The more a ball of stuffing the thinner layer of dough in a cookie. Choose according to your preferences.

Take 1 ball of dough, slightly flatten it, put it in the middle of a ball of the filling, obtenus her test. Connect ends of dough into a ball, roll it between your hands to the dough a more comfortable filling. I have a special traditional form for the preparation of cuhk you want to put a little flattened shaped cookies, and firmly pressed his palm to the mold. But before I always did kahk in the form of small cakes, which is also quite traditional form in the middle East. Form the carrot and gently decorate the biscuits are pricked over or stripes fork/knife.

If you were a happy owner here of this form - should the cookies with the power to shake it or gently knock side of the table. When working with form you'll need flour for dusting the cookies, since cookies can to stick to that surface.

So come with all dough balls and toppings. As women bake the biscuits in huge quantities, this is a lengthy process. But women together with family, preparing cuhk for the holiday, as we once (and still), for example, dumplings for the New Year. Again, this tradition rooted in the past, people buy more of kahk in the store without this lengthy process.

Place the cookies on the baking sheet, the laid parchment paper, at a distance from each other. Cover the pan with a towel and leave for 45 minutes so the cookies have risen. Bake in a preheated 180 degree oven for 15-20 minutes (depending on the thickness of the layer of dough; I had a very thin layer was baked for 15 minutes). Monitor the process after the first 10 minutes in the oven, the biscuits must be not darker than light orange, not pereikite of cuhk.

The cookies pale in colour. In the East, I love sweets, so cahk before serving, generously sprinkle with powdered sugar, and serve it to the table always with a full plate of powdered sugar, so that the guest may taste a sprinkle of cuhk.

Generally, all eat of cuhk, first roll it in powdered sugar, and then Dobrev its a tremendous mound of powdered sugar on top. I like this cookie at all without powder.

The dough is not sweet, fragrant, friable, not too crumbly, soft with a thin layer adheres to the date filling, which perfectly harmonizes with the taste test. Very hearty cookie that has a very long shelf life. Great for Breakfast, filling with energy and the use of date - the most respected in the East of the fetus.
PS Options of fillings for kahk you can look in the cookie recipe Mamula here: http://www.povarenok .ru/recipes/show/775 51/ (When opening the link, note the extra space in the link between the two fives, it is necessary to remove). A lot of them: nutty, honey, from Turkish delight, dried figs from dried apricots.