Ingredients
Dough
- 600 gplain flour
- 200 gbutter, melted
- 150 mlsour cream or yoghurt
- 2egg yolks
- 50 mlwarm milk
- 5 gyeast
- a pinch of salt
Filling
- 400 ghazelnuts or almonds, ground
- 300 gsugar
- 1 tspground cardamom
- 1 tbsprosewater, optional
Equipment
- maggash, the Azerbaijani pastry tweezers
- or small sharp tweezers and a fork
To serve
- at Novruz, with tea
- alongside pakhlava and shorgogal
Directions
- Make the filling first. Grind the nuts finely and mix them with the sugar, cardamom and rosewater. Grind the nuts fine but stop before they turn oily, because nut oil released into the sugar makes a paste that leaks through the pastry. The filling should be dry and sandy rather than a paste.
- Warm the milk to blood heat and mix with the yeast, then let it stand 10 minutes. Mix the flour and salt, then work in the melted butter, sour cream, yolks and yeast mixture. Knead it only until smooth, about 5 minutes. Do not over-knead this dough.
- Rest it, covered, for an hour. Now roll the dough out thinly, about 2 mm, and cut rounds of about 12 cm. Roll it thin and evenly, because a thick pastry will not take a crisp pattern. Put a generous spoonful of filling on one half of each round.
- Fold it over into a half-moon and press the edges firmly together. Now the edge, which is done before the pattern. Roll and pinch the curved edge over on itself into a twisted rope, working along it. That rolled rope edge seals the pastry far better than a fork crimp, and it is what stops the filling escaping.
- Sit the finished crescent seam side down. Pinch a small piece of the surface with the tweezers and lift and twist very slightly, leaving a raised ridge. Pinch only the top layer of pastry. Push the tweezers too deep and you go through into the filling, and the pastry splits open in the oven. Work in rows, usually a herringbone or wheat-ear pattern running from the edge toward the centre.
- Keep the rows even and closely spaced, which is where practice shows. This takes several minutes per pastry, which is why it is done communally. Set them on a lined tray as you finish each one. Now bake at 180°C (355°F) for 20 to 25 minutes.
- Cool them completely on the tray before moving them, because they are fragile while warm. They keep two weeks in a tin and they are made well ahead of Novruz. Serve them with tea, on the Novruz tray with the other sweets, and give them to visitors.
Technique
- A maggash costs very little and is sold in Azerbaijani and Turkish shops.
- Walnuts are used in some regions in place of hazelnuts or almonds.
- The pattern is the mark of skill and old hands make it look effortless.
Substitutions
- Fine tweezers and a fork if no maggash is available.
- Walnuts or a mix of nuts in the filling.
Variations
- Made with walnuts.
- With cardamom and saffron in the filling.
- Made larger, though small is traditional.
History
Crescent pastry filled with ground nuts and sugar, crimped with tweezers as a Novruz symbol of the moon.
Frequently asked questions
What is Shekerbura?
Shekerbura is a dessert from Azerbaijan: crescent pastry pinched with tweezers, filled with sugared nuts. Crescent pastry filled with ground nuts and sugar, crimped with tweezers as a Novruz symbol of the moon.
How long does Shekerbura take to make?
Shekerbura takes 1 hr 30 min plus 1 hr resting of preparation and 25 min of cooking. The recipe makes about 30. It is rated hard to make.
What can I substitute in Shekerbura?
Yes, within limits. Fine tweezers and a fork if no maggash is available. Walnuts or a mix of nuts in the filling.
What is the most important thing to get right in Shekerbura?
Make the filling first. Grind the nuts finely and mix them with the sugar, cardamom and rosewater. Grind the nuts fine but stop before they turn oily, because nut oil released into the sugar makes a paste that leaks through the pastry. The filling should be dry and sandy rather than a paste.
