Barazek: Syrian Sesame and Pistachio Cookies

The smell of toasting sesame brings the kitchen close to a Damascus pastry shop

Barazek are thin Syrian cookies coated with white sesame seeds on one side and pistachios on the other. Open the oven and the first thing to rise is not butter but the smell of toasting sesame. A little later the oil of the pistachios and the floral scent of orange blossom water follow.

What you worry about making them elsewhere is a dough that can be rolled thin without cracking, a syrup that keeps the sesame from falling off, and a bake that doesn't scorch the pistachios. Making them thick is easy, but then you lose the barazek feel of "snapping cleanly, with sesame lingering in the mouth."

This article makes a home batch of 24. The dough is lightened with cake flour and a little cornstarch, and uses both butter and oil so it doesn't turn too hard when cool. For the sesame side, a thin syrup of honey and water is used, and the cookies bake 12 to 15 minutes at 170°C (340°F). Aim not for strong browning but for edges a pale golden color with no white left at the center.

Barazek, the Syrian cookie that competes on thinness

Barazek is not a sweet soaked in syrup like Middle Eastern syrup pastries. Before baking, a thin syrup coats the sesame and gives only the surface a light gloss. The dough itself is lightly sweet, and white sesame is the star of the toasty flavor. The pistachios are not just decoration; they add a green aroma when you bite in.

There are four axes to protect when making them at home:

Among Middle Eastern sweets, the Levantine knafeh is a hot sweet of cheese and syrup, and the Turkish baklava layers thin pastry and nuts. Barazek is lighter, the type to put in a box of baked sweets and eat a little at a time. It suits two cookies beside strong black tea better than a large slice after a meal.

Ingredients (makes about 24)

Ingredients and tools that give pause when shopping

The ingredients of barazek differ more in shopping than they look. Cake flour, milk and butter are fine from a supermarket. Worth considering from a specialty source are three things: using a lot of white sesame at once, adding just a little floral aroma, and chopping pistachios evenly and coarsely.

Barazek uses more than 100 g of white sesame at a time. Rather than opening many small bags, keeping a large bag for baking lets you cover the surface without skimping.

Orange blossom water is only half a teaspoon, but it changes the outline of the aroma. It also goes into knafeh, basbousa and baklava, so if you keep making Middle Eastern sweets, one bottle is easier to use up.

Pistachios can be chopped with a knife, but pieces that are too large float off the dough, and pieces too fine let the oil seep. If you make Middle Eastern sweets often, a small food processor earns its place for evening out the size of the nut pieces.

Instructions: bake thin at 170°C and don't let the sesame fall off

Barazek is a sweet whose look before baking is very close to the finished form. If the sesame is dense, the pistachios are pressed into one side and the dough thickness is even, the bake is steady. Resting and then rolling thin is less likely to fail than kneading hard.

Tips for getting closer to the original in a home kitchen

The barazek of Syrian pastry shops are thinner than home versions, with sesame packed densely on the surface. Aiming for the same thinness too hard at home makes them crack easily with humidity and weak oven heat. For the first batch, steady yourself at about 5 mm thick, and once you are used to it, move toward 4 mm.

Mahlab is a spice made from the kernel inside cherry stones, used in the Middle East and around the Mediterranean. It gives an aroma close to almond and cherry, but barazek can be eaten without it. Rather than hunting for it, protecting the sesame, pistachios and thinness comes first.

Use white sesame that is lightly toasted. Sesame roasted too dark tends to turn bitter during baking, so avoid any whose aroma is too strong when you open the bag. Reducing the sesame covering the surface makes a tidier look but a weaker aroma. Don't economize here; leftover sesame can go into the sesame sauce for momo or the finish of hummus, which makes it easy to use up.

What goes wrong and how to fix it

Thickness is the easiest thing to correct. For barazek, evening out thickness matters more than making the diameter large. At about 5 mm, even 170°C (340°F) dries them to the center and lets you take them out before the sesame turns bitter.

If the sesame falls off, rethink how you press before adding syrup. More syrup leaves the baked surface damp like candy. After placing the dough on the dish of sesame, press from above with your fingers together for 1 second. That alone changes the density of the surface a great deal.

How to eat, storage and FAQ

The aroma of barazek settles more on the day after baking than on the day itself. The toastiness of the sesame is strong on the day, and the pistachio and floral aromas come together the next day. Strong black tea, unsweetened coffee and Arabic coffee with cardamom go well.

Can I make it without pistachios?

You can, but the green aroma that makes it barazek weakens. To replace them, chop unsalted almonds coarsely and use the same 70 g. Walnuts are oily and tend to darken the surface when baked, so they are not suited as a substitute for a first try.

Is orange blossom water essential?

It is not essential. But a little gives the aroma of a Middle Eastern sweet. If you leave it out, increase the milk by 1/2 tsp, and it holds together better if you don't substitute vanilla extract. Adding vanilla pushes the impression toward a Western pastry.

Can I use black sesame?

Black sesame bakes too, but its aroma is strong and the look becomes a different sweet. To keep it close to Syrian pastry, use white sesame. Even if you want to change the color a little, mixing in only 1 tbsp of black sesame rather than all of it makes bitterness less likely.

Can I make the dough the day before?

Yes. Shape the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight. Take it out to room temperature 30 minutes before use, and shape it once it has softened enough to dent slowly when pressed. Rolling it thin while cold makes the edges crack easily.

What should I serve it with in a menu?

As a sweet after a meal, it suits coming after salty, sour Levantine dishes. Set out starters such as falafel, tabbouleh and baba ghanoush, and finish with two barazek so it doesn't feel heavy. To enjoy more sweet Middle Eastern desserts in a row, comparing textures with Egypt's basbousa is interesting too.

To extend to another Syrian sweet, a cold cheese dessert rather than a baked cookie, there is also halawet el jibn, in which semolina and cheese are stretched thin and rolled around cream. From the toastiness of white sesame and pistachio to the scent of flower water and milk, even among after-meal sweets the direction changes quite a bit.

Sources