Sekerpare – Turkish Soft Cookies in Sugar Syrup
This Sekerpare was more of a very sophisticated and elegant dessert than just a cookie. The cookies once baked, soaks up all the sugar and take over a soft and melt-in-the-mouth texture.
When planning to make a Turkish recipe for the theme, I was very specific that I would only be making savory dishes. I had a lovely dinner recipe planned out, but things did not work out quite as well at home and I had to skip making it.
Being a dessert-loving family, one could not stay away from Turkish sweet recipes for too long and I had to give up on my initial planning and made this delicious Sekerpare.
I was very reluctant about choosing a cookie recipe that is dunked into sugar syrup and was not sure how that was going to work. I am glad that I gave it a try and did not stay away from it.
This was more of a very sophisticated and elegant dessert than just a cookie. The cookies once baked, soaks up all the sugar and take over a soft and melt-in-the-mouth texture.
This dessert is quite heavy and large. The actual recipe had a bit more sugar in the syrup, but I chose to reduce it, and that worked out quite well. The cookies were perfectly sweet with this measurement. If you want a very sweet dessert, then increase the sugar to 1 cup.
Preparation time - 10 minutes
Cooking time - 25 minutes
Difficulty level - easy
Ingredients to make Sekerpare - Makes 12
For the cookies -
- All-purpose flour - 1 cup
- Semolina / Rava / Sooji - ¼ cup
- Sugar - ¼ cup (fine)
- Butter - 5 tablespoon (softened)
- Yogurt - ¼ cup
- Baking powder - ½ tsp
- Salt - a pinch
- Pistachios/almonds/walnuts - to garnish
For the syrup -
- Sugar - ¾ cup
- Water - 1 cup
- Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Procedureto make Sekerpare -
To make the sugar syrup -
- Combine the sugar and the water in a saucepan and begin to heat them on low to medium heat.
- Once the sugar melts and the syrup comes to a boil, add the lemon juice and let it boil for 5 minutes until it gets slightly syrupy.
- Turn off the flame and let the syrup cool down entirely to room temperature.
To make the cookies -
- Add the softened butter and sugar in a bowl and mix until well combined. Now add the yogurt and mix well. I used my whisk to combine them.
- Now add the semolina, flour, baking powder, and salt and mix together using your hands to form a dough. You may add a little bit more flour or yogurt to make a soft, non-sticky dough.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Layer a baking tray with parchment.
- Divide the dough into 12 equal balls and flatten them slightly with your hands and place them on the prepared tray.
- Press an almond or pistachio on the cookie dough and bake them for about 25 minutes until they are slightly brown.
- Remove the cookies on a tray and spoon the cool sugar syrup immediately over the warm cookies. Add all the sugar syrup and keep spooning the syrup on the cookies once in a while for a few times. In about an hour, you will notice that the cookies have absorbed all the syrup.
- The Sekerpare store well outside for 2 to 3 days and can be refrigerated for a week.
More Middle Eastern Recipes
If you made this recipe and liked it, give a star rating on the recipe card or let me know in the comments below. You could also share it with me on Instagram using #MyCookingJourney and tagging me @sandhya.ramakrishnan. You could follow me and my recipes on Facebook |Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter/X
Recipe
Sekerpare
Ingredients
- 1 cup All-purpose flour
- ¼ cup Semolina / Rava / Sooji
- ¼ cup Sugar Fine
- 5 tablespoon Butter Softened
- ¼ cup Yogurt
- ½ teaspoon Baking powder
- pinch Salt
- to garnish Pistachios/almonds/walnuts
- ¾ cup Sugar
- 1 cup Water
- 1 teaspoon Lemon juice
Instructions
- Combine the sugar and the water in a saucepan and begin to heat them in low to medium heat.
- Once the sugar melts and the syrup comes to a boil, add the lemon juice and let it boil for 5 minutes until it gets slightly syrupy.
- Turn off the flame and let the syrup cool down entirely to room temperature.
- In a bowl, add the softened butter and the sugar and mix until well combined. Now add the yogurt and mix well. I used my whisk to combine them.
- Now add the semolina, flour, baking powder, and salt and mix together using your hands to form a dough. You may add a little bit more flour or yogurt to make a soft, nonsticky dough.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Layer a baking tray with parchment.
- Divide the dough into 12 equal balls and flatten them slightly with your hands and place them on the prepared tray.
- Press an almond or pistachio on the cookie dough and bake them for about 25 minutes until they are slightly brown.
- Remove the cookies on a tray and spoon the cool sugar syrup immediately over the warm cookies. Add all the sugar syrup and keep spooning the syrup on the cookies once in a while for a few times. In about an hour, you will notice that the cookies have absorbed all the syrup.
- The Sekerpare store well outside for 2 to 3 days and can be refrigerated for a week.
Very good recipe! It is easy to understand and the ingredients quantities are accurate. Thank you very much!
Thanks a lot! Glad that the recipe worked well for you.
Tried the recipe. .. it turned out delicious. ..Thanks for sharing.