Shakar lama

Ingredients

The dough

• 250 gghee
• softened, or butter
• 200 gicing sugar
• 400 gplain flour
• 2 teaspoonsground cardamom
• or more, to taste
• 1egg yolk
• a pinch of salt

Sometimes added

• 50 gground almonds
• 1 tablespoonrose water
• grated zest of 1 orange

To finish

• 1egg yolk, beaten
• to glaze
• whole almonds or pistachios
• one per biscuit

To serve

• with tea
• at Eid
• from a tin

Directions

1. Butter contains water and milk solids. Butter gives a slightly firmer biscuit. Butter works perfectly well here. Grind the cardamom fresh if you can. Split the pods and take the seeds out. Grind only the black seeds inside. Discard all of them entirely then. Do not skip that step at all here. Let them cool before deciding. Beat the ghee until light and creamy. It should be soft rather than melted.
2. Let it soften at room temperature. Beat it until pale and fluffy. Beat in the icing sugar gradually. Beat them until pale and light. Give it a good five full minutes. Beat the egg yolk into the mixture. The white would make it too firm.
3. Beat the ground cardamom into it. Add it with the yolk rather than the flour. Beat it right through the fat. Sift the flour and salt over it. Fold the flour into it all gently.
4. Fold rather than beating it in. Stop as soon as it comes together. Wrap the dough and refrigerate it. Give it at least one full hour. Warm dough is impossible to shape. Do not skip that chilling at all. Roll the dough into small balls. Make them about the size of a walnut.
5. Keep every one of them the same size. Weigh them if you want them exact. Work quickly with the cold dough. It softens fast in warm hands. Return it to the fridge if it softens. Work in batches if the kitchen is warm. Press each ball down gently flat. Press it with your palm or thumb. Flatten it to about a centimetre. Smooth those cracks with a finger.
6. Brush the tops with beaten egg yolk. That gives them a golden shine. Brush it on quite thinly and evenly. Press an almond or pistachio into each. Press it in firmly but gently. It should sit partly buried in it. Press it properly into the dough. Bake them at one hundred and sixty degrees. These should not brown at all.
7. Lift one gently to look underneath. The base should be only just set. Take them out while still pale. Let them cool on the tray entirely. They are extremely fragile when hot.
8. Lift them with a thin spatula. They are still fragile when cold. Keep them in a properly sealed tin. They keep about two weeks that way. Layer them with paper between. Paper stops them rubbing together. Set them out on a serving plate. They keep two weeks in a sealed tin.

Technique

• Chill the dough at least an hour before shaping: ghee firms right up in the cold, and warm dough is genuinely impossible to shape. Work quickly with it and return it to the fridge if it softens in your hands.
• These should stay pale rather than browning — bake at a moderate one hundred and sixty degrees and take them out set but barely coloured. Overbaked ones go dry and hard and lose the crumbly texture, which is the commonest mistake.
• Let them cool completely on the tray, since they are extremely fragile when hot and break apart if moved at all. They firm up as they cool but stay fragile even cold, so lift them with a thin spatula supporting each one.

Substitutions

• Butter works perfectly well in place of ghee, giving a slightly less crumbly and less nutty result; ghee is pure fat with no water where butter’s water creates steam in baking, which is why ghee gives the shorter crumb.
• Whole almonds or pistachios pressed into the tops are visible but tree nut allergy can be severe, so say clearly if you have used them; press each one partly buried, since a loose nut falls off in the oven.

Variations

• Use icing sugar rather than granulated, since it dissolves entirely into the fat where granulated leaves a grainy texture — that difference genuinely matters here.
• Grind the cardamom fresh, splitting the pods and grinding only the black seeds inside; the green husks are fibrous and bitter and should be discarded. Beat it in with the egg yolk rather than the flour, since the fat carries the aroma well.
• Fold the flour in rather than beating it, stopping as soon as it comes together, since overworking develops gluten and makes the biscuits tough. The dough should be soft and crumbly and barely hold together, which is entirely right.

History

Made with ghee and ground cardamom; the name comes from Persian words for sugar and morsel.

Frequently asked questions

What is Shakar lama?

Shakar lama is a dessert from Iraq: crumbly cardamom shortbread cookies eaten with tea at Eid. Made with ghee and ground cardamom; the name comes from Persian words for sugar and morsel.

How long does Shakar lama take to make?

Shakar lama takes 30 minutes plus chilling of preparation and 20 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 30 biscuits. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Shakar lama?

Yes, within limits. Butter works perfectly well in place of ghee, giving a slightly less crumbly and less nutty result; ghee is pure fat with no water where butter’s water creates steam in baking, which is why ghee gives the shorter crumb. Whole almonds or pistachios pressed into the tops are visible but tree nut allergy can be severe, so say clearly if you have used them; press each one partly buried, since a loose nut falls off in the oven.

What is the most important thing to get right in Shakar lama?

Butter contains water and milk solids. Butter gives a slightly firmer biscuit. Butter works perfectly well here. Grind the cardamom fresh if you can. Split the pods and take the seeds out. Grind only the black seeds inside. Discard all of them entirely then. Do not skip that step at all here. Let them cool before deciding. Beat the ghee until light and creamy. It should be soft rather than melted.