Beirut -
Women relatives and neighbors gather in Lebanese villages on days before Eid, usually to prepare the feast.
Some families still make Eid sweets at home, drawing on the experience of grandmothers, and adding new touches.
Although most of the sweets for Eid al-Fitr in Lebanon may be shortened to cakes and maamoul, some regions are famous for other sweets that accompany them and are not a substitute for them.
Eid tablets
In the areas of Baalbek and Hermel, a type of cake called disks is spread, and it is distributed during visits to cemeteries after the Eid prayer.
As for some villages in the south, the ma’amoul is also served in front of the cemeteries, and is left to be taken for mercy on the dead, as one of the most important duties of the feast is to share mercy and light on the souls of the departed loved ones.
Sesame cakes are one of the most desirable sweets in Lebanon in the hands of mothers (Al-Jazeera)
Bekaa Eid cakes
Basima Shukr from the central Bekaa region tells Al Jazeera Net that buying Eid sweets is the norm today, and in its surroundings, there are only a few women who prepare home sweets during the Eid period.
As for Basima, she prepares Eid cakes several times a year, especially in the fireplace oven, and Al Jazeera Net readers and readers share her recipe that added her special touches.
Ingredients
3 kilograms of flour
1100 grams of liquid milk, and milk can be replaced with milk
kilogram of sugar
3 packets of butter
A cup of yeast soaked in a little milk and sugar
rose water cup
rose water cup
Half a spoon of ground cardamom, a spoonful of Mahlab, a spoon of mastic
From the Middle Bekaa region, the Bekaa Eid cakes were made by Basma (Al Jazeera)
How to prepare
As for the method of preparation, she says that she puts a little lukewarm milk and sugar with yeast to “bring them up”, that is, she covers them until they form bubbles on the face.
Then mix the dry materials well, and leave a hole in the middle, where you gradually put the liquid materials and mix them with the dry, without rubbing too much, and leave until fermentation, meaning it becomes double in size, and it is better to wrap it with a cloth in a warm room, and it usually needs from one to two hours according to the temperature Atmosphere.
Then it is formed by hand in a circular or cylindrical shape, and rolled into the shape of the well-known traditional cake, or with special molds of different shapes.
The tray is usually not painted before placing the mixed cakes in it due to the large amount of butter in the dough, but Basma prefers to place it on the butter paper.
Bake in an oven at 180 degrees Celsius, and before inserting it in the oven, sesame or sugar is placed on it, and it remains in the oven until it is cooked.
Baalbaki cake
As for the Baalbaki cakes, Heba Al-Dika says that she is still preparing cakes with her sisters and daughters days before the Eid, which has been known in her family for a long time.
the ingredients
2 kilograms of flour
Kilogram of chickpea flour (fine semolina)
A kilogram and a half of sugar
Two spoons of vanilla
Baking powder box
One teaspoon Mahlab, one tablespoon of nutmeg, and two tablespoons of anise
Butter Paquita
cup of oil
powdered milk cup
4 cups of water
A teaspoon of baking soda, a spoonful of yeast, a spoonful of ammonia.
How to prepare
Melt the butter, oil and sugar in a bowl. Sift the flour, chicken flour and spices into another bowl, then gradually add to the first bowl.
Add the milk, knead all the materials with the dissolved yeast, and leave for two hours until fermentation.
Then it is formed in molds as desired, and grilled until cooked in the oven.
Maamoul with pistachios sprinkled with powdered sugar (Al Jazeera)
The famous maamoul trinity
Shadia Al-Soufi, who is from Tripoli in northern Lebanon, says that she meets two days before the Eid with her daughters and granddaughters in a family atmosphere to prepare the feast.
She adds, in her beloved Tripolitan dialect, "Oh God, bless our master Muhammad" between one sentence and another, as she talks to Al Jazeera Net about how to make the traditional Maamoul dessert, so she uses a uniform dough with different fillings, which are well-known and famous sweets: made with walnuts, and with pistachios and dates.
The ingredients of the maamoul dough are a kilogram of coarse semolina, a kilogram of fine semolina, a kilogram of ghee, a cup of rose water, a cup and a half of blossom water, a spoonful of yeast, a cup of coarse sugar.
Maamoul dates are grilled in the home oven until golden (Al-Jazeera)
How to prepare
As for the method of preparation, she puts the ghee, rose water and blossom in a bowl, sugar and yeast, and she “blushes” it, i.e. stirs it well for ten minutes, and one of her daughters begins to sprinkle semolina gradually and slowly until the quantity ends and knead well, and leave for three hours until it ferments.
Meanwhile, Shadia prepares three types of fillings, walnuts, pistachios and dates. She grinds the walnuts and pistachios automatically and keeps them coarse separately, and puts each of them a cup of coarse sugar, two tablespoons of ghee, a cup of rose water and a cup of blossom water.
As for the filling of dates, you put blossom water, rosehip and ghee for it, and cut them, so that each one is the size of a date and the same shape.
Cut the dough into small balls, and do not use molds, but shape it with your hand like a kibbeh. The kernels stuffed with pistachios are in an oval shape, and walnuts are in a circular shape, as well as dates in a circular and flat shape or any shape you choose.
It is grilled in the oven, and as soon as it comes out, sprinkle the hot walnuts and pistachios with a little fine sugar, and leave until the next day for the dough to absorb, then sprinkle powdered sugar again when it cools completely, while leaving the dates stuffed without sugar, and wrapping the kernels with paper or Arrange in hospitality trays.
Fishta Mabroma is one of the most delicious oriental sweets on Eid (Al-Jazeera)
There is also kunafa with cheese or cream to culminate in the morning of Eid, especially as it is eaten as breakfast in all Lebanese regions.
The north is also famous for its sweet cheese, jezirah, madloukh and mafroukeh, while the south is famous for its Siniora sweets, especially in Sidon, and the strange ones as well.
Families who greet each other present sweets as gifts, such as baklava, petit four, Znud al-Sit, and Aysh al-Saraya, in addition to chocolate, malban, nougat, candies, and cakes.