These Turkish Sekerpare thumbprint cookies are like little biscuits with a nutty semolina texture. After being baked, the cookies are drenched, while still warm, in an apricot-infused syrup and then topped with finely candied Turkish apricots. They’re sweet, crumbly, and absolutely divine.
So, all of my close friends know that I have become absolutely obsessed with Turkish Netflix over the past year. Most nights, you can find me in bed, head under the blanket, earphones on, with my phone about two inches away from my face reading English subtitles till around four in the morning. I seriously can’t get enough of the drama; it’s amazing and oh so entertaining. Right now, I’m currently watching, “Love Is in the Air,” hoping that Toprak and Yusuf will eventually end up together. For right now though, Havvah’s scheming seems to be working where Yusuf is concerned. Think soap opera, only with even longer dramatic pauses, gorgeous scenery, crazier schemes, lots of prayers to Allah, and a copious amount of Turkish music thrown in.
Anyway, from watching all of these Turkish television shows, I’ve really begun to have an appreciation for Turkish and Mediterranean food, so I was super-excited to see that this month’s Baking Bloggers theme was, “Greek, Turkish, and Cypriot Baking.” Right away, I decided that I needed to make a Turkish cookie, and these Sekerpare cookies are totally my kind of cookie. They are usually dipped in syrup and garnished with almonds, however, with B.O.B. Bob being allergic to tree nuts, I decided to replace the almonds with Turkish apricots. Basically, these cookies are like little biscuits, drenched in syrup and then topped with candied apricots. A sweet treat for when I’m up late at night reading subtitles and crossing my fingers that Yusuf will finally come to realize that Havvah is a conniving little bitch.
Ingredients:
Apricot Syrup:
- 2 1/2 Cups Cold Water
- 2 Cups Granulated Sugar
- 8 Dried Turkish Apricots, Finely Chopped
Cookies:
- 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 Cup Semolina Flour
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
- 2 Egg Yolks, Room Temperature
- 9 Tablespoons Butter, Room Temperature
- 2 Teaspoons Vanilla
- 3 to 5 Tablespoons Cold Water
Directions:
Apricot Syrup:
- Place all of the ingredients into a large saucepan over high heat. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. (If the mixture gets close to boiling over, decrease the heat a little bit.)
- Remove the syrup from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
- Using a strainer, separate the finely chopped apricots from the syrup.
Cookies:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, semolina flour, and baking powder.
- Add the yolks, butter, and vanilla. Use your hands to knead the mixture together. Add enough water to bring the dough together into a ball.
- Shape the dough into ping-pong-sized balls and then place them on a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
- Use your thumb to press an indentation into the middle of each ball of dough. Bake for 20 minutes.
- Place each cookie on top of the tines of a fork and dunk it into the sugar syrup. Remove to a baking rack. When you have dunked all of the cookies, fill the thumbprint well of each cookie with the finely chopped apricots. Allow the cookies to rest for 10 minutes.
- Spoon a teaspoon of the remaining syrup over each cookie. Allow the cookies to rest again for 10 minutes.
- Spoon any of the remaining syrup over the cookies. Allow the cookies to rest for 2 hours before packaging in an airtight container between sheets of wax paper.
Suggestions:
- I used Irish Butter in this recipe because I wanted them to have a higher butterfat content. You can use either plain unsalted or salted butter in this recipe. If you use unsalted butter, make sure to add a 1/4-teaspoon of kosher salt.
- You can find semolina flour at most specialty markets or online. If you can’t find semolina flour, try replacing it with cornmeal, which will probably give you a similar texture. I suggest holding out for the semolina flour though, it will give you a great excuse to experiment with new and unique recipes.
- I chose not to add any sugar to the actual cookie dough in this recipe. I personally feel that there is enough sugar in the apricot syrup.
- Normally when baking cookies, you only bake them for 10 minutes. These need to be baked for 20 minutes so that they can hold up to the apricot syrup you are drenching them in.
- Place a sheet of foil underneath the baking rack before you drench the cookies. It will make cleanup much easier.
- This recipe will yield approximately 16 cookies.
Improvements:
- Crumble a few very finely chopped almonds over the top of each cookie.
- Replace the apricots in this recipe with dried figs or dried dates.
- Sprinkle a tiny bit of flakey sea salt over the top of each cookie.
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 Cups Cold Water
- 2 Cups Granulated Sugar
- 8 Dried Turkish Apricots, Finely Chopped
- 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 Cup Semolina Flour
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
- 2 Egg Yolks, Room Temperature
- 9 Tablespoons Butter, Room Temperature
- 2 Teaspoons Vanilla
- 3 to 5 Tablespoons Cold Water
Directions:
- Place all of the ingredients into a large saucepan over high heat. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. (If the mixture gets close to boiling over, decrease the heat a little bit.)
- Remove the syrup from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
- Using a strainer, separate the finely chopped apricots from the syrup.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, semolina flour, and baking powder.
- Add the yolks, butter, and vanilla. Use your hands to knead the mixture together. Add enough water to bring the dough together into a ball.
- Shape the dough into ping-pong-sized balls and then place them on a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
- Use your thumb to press an indentation into the middle of each ball of dough. Bake for 20 minutes.
- Place each cookie on top of the tines of a fork and dunk it into the sugar syrup. Remove to a baking rack. When you have dunked all of the cookies, fill the thumbprint well of each cookie with the finely chopped apricots. Allow the cookies to rest for 10 minutes.
- Spoon a teaspoon of the remaining syrup over each cookie. Allow the cookies to rest again for 10 minutes.
- Spoon any of the remaining syrup over the cookies. Allow the cookies to rest for 2 hours before packaging in an airtight container between sheets of wax paper.
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Make sure to check out all of the other great Baking Bloggers “Greek, Turkish, and Cypriot Baking” recipes below. A huge thanks to Palatable Pastime for hosting this event.
- Alevropita (Greek Thin-Batter Feta Pie) from Tara’s Multicultural Table
- Apricot Sekerpare (Turkish Thumbprint Cookies) from Faith, Hope, Love & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
- Baked Kabak Mücver from Sneha’s Recipe
- Cypriot Lamb Tavas from Pandemonium Noshery
- Flaounes (Cypriot Cheese Pastries) from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
- Kalo Prama – Cypriot Semolina Cake from Food Lust People Love
- Kreatopita from A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Sekerpare from The Schizo Chef
- Simit (Turkish Sesame Bagels) from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- Tiropita (Greek Cheese Pastries) from Caroline’s Cooking
