Ingredients
Dough
- 500 gplain flour
- 100 gfine semolina
- 200 gbutter, melted
- 100 mloil
- 100 gsugar
- 200 mlyoghurt
- 2eggs
- 10 gbaking powder
Syrup
- 600 gsugar
- 700 mlwater
- 1strip lemon peel
- juice of ½ lemon
Directions
- Make the syrup first and let it go completely cold. Boil the sugar, water and lemon peel for 10 minutes, cool it, then stir in the lemon juice.
- Hot cakes into cold syrup, without exception. The temperature difference is what drives the syrup into the crumb, and both hot or both cold leaves them either soggy or dry.
- Mix the melted butter, oil, sugar, yoghurt and eggs together.
- Stir in the flour, semolina and baking powder to a soft dough, and do not knead it.
- Barely mix it. Working the dough develops gluten, and the cakes then go tough and refuse to drink the syrup.
- Take walnut-sized pieces and shape each into an oval about 5 cm long.
- Press the back of a fork or a grater along the length of each to make ridges, then pinch the ends slightly.
- The ridges are not decoration. They increase the surface area and give the syrup channels to run into, which is why every recipe insists on them.
- The shape is meant to resemble a date, hurma in Arabic, and that is where the name comes from.
- Set them on a tray and bake at 180°C (355°F) for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown.
- Take them straight from the oven and lower them into the cold syrup a few at a time.
- Leave each batch 2 to 3 minutes, turning once, then lift them out into a serving dish.
- Do not leave them longer. They swell rapidly and past a few minutes they collapse into mush.
- Pour a little of the remaining syrup over and leave them several hours before serving.
- They are served at Ramadan and at funerals alike, which is an entirely normal pairing in a Bosnian household.
Technique
- They must be genuinely wet in the middle and dry on the outside, which is the whole test of a good one.
- Some cooks push a walnut into the centre of each before baking.
- They keep a week in a covered dish and improve over the first two days.
Substitutions
- Sunflower oil in place of some of the butter.
- Sour cream instead of yoghurt.
Variations
- With a walnut pressed into each.
- Kalburabastı, the Turkish version, pressed against a sieve for its ridges.
- Made with orange syrup instead of lemon.
History
Semolina cakes soaked in syrup, named for their date-like shape from Arabic hurma; served at Ramadan and at funerals.
Frequently asked questions
What is Hurmašice?
Hurmašice is a dessert from Bosnia and Herzegovina: date-shaped cookies soaked in lemon syrup. Semolina cakes soaked in syrup, named for their date-like shape from Arabic hurma; served at Ramadan and at funerals.
How long does Hurmašice take to make?
Hurmašice takes 30 min plus several hours standing of preparation and 35 min of cooking. The recipe makes about 30. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Hurmašice?
Yes, within limits. Sunflower oil in place of some of the butter. Sour cream instead of yoghurt.
What is the most important thing to get right in Hurmašice?
Hot cakes into cold syrup, without exception. The temperature difference is what drives the syrup into the crumb, and both hot or both cold leaves them either soggy or dry.
