Almost Turkish Recipes

Mushroom Cookies (Mantar Kurabiye)



























This is a long lost recipe for me. Although I used to love these mushroom cookies, I completely forgot about them until the other day when I was thinking about what to make for my friends who'd come over for tea. Now, having a tea party is a very important social activity. You have to serve something with Turkish tea. It might be a cake, some sort of phyllo dough pastry (puff pastry or phyllo dough), cookies, potato salad, some kind of poğaça, or tabbouleh depending on the season and what you have in the pantry. Even if your guest is an unexpected one that catches you totally unprepared, there are vital things one can do: send the youngest kid in the household (if there's none in your house, find one from the neighborhood) to the bakery to fetch simit (sesame seed fastfood bread) or to the closest patisserie for goodies. But if it's a scheduled tea party, then you have all the time to contemplate on what to do. The social etiquette is to serve two different kinds: sweet and savory. I found the recipe at www.kekevi.com

Mushroom cookie, which, bytheway, has nothing to do with fungus other than its shape, is a perfect tea-time cookie.

2 eggs
2 sticks butter
1 cup powder sugar
1 cup corn starch
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 cup flour

coco or nuts

-Mix well butter and sugar.
-Add eggs and beat well.
-Add in the rest of the ingredients except for coco. Mix well with a wooden spoon.
-Roll a piece of dough into a size of a golf ball (almost).
-Put 1-2 tsp coco on a flat plate. Find a small cap; I used the cap of carton orange juice container. Beer cap would work, too. Wet it a little. Press it first on coco and then on the ball-shape cookie dough. You may need to repeat this with every cookie.
-If you're feeling lazy or you don't want a mushroom-shape cookie, just put a hazelnut, almond, or pistachio on your cookies.
-Bake at preheated 370F for 10-12 minutes or until they have tiny cracks on them. Do not bake them until they turn yellow or brown! Or you'll lose that melt-in-the-mouth texture.

This is the best cookie ever!




11 comments:

  1. I love the importance placed on hospitality, even (or especially?) to unexpected guests. Afternoon tea is a time when my friends and I gather to relax after a hard day of work. It's also a time when a small bite of something sweet is just what you need to revive you for the evening ahead. I'll definitely try these cookies -- I love the little mushroom swirls, too!

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  2. These are so cute! Though I love baklava, I like hearing about other Turkish desserts that aren't quite as famous, though just as good. The best thing is these are all ingredients I have at home already!

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  3. Wow, this is new to me. Mushroom cookies? They are so novel and pretty!

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  4. Hi Burcu,
    Another interesting dish, mushroom cookies! I love it.

    Came to tell you I wrote about your red pepper today for Weekend Herb Blogging. I used it to make Roasted Spicy Cauliflower, which was so delicious. So thanks again for the generous gift.

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  5. Anonymous12:47 AM

    Thanks for these Burcu. I bought a plate of these from a fair last year in Melbourne only to find out that they were made by a Turkish lady. I have never come across with these in Turkey, and glad you have the recipe.

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  6. totally melt-in-your-mouth... fantastic! And I like the method of adding the ring color, very clever!

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  7. Where does it say how many eggs to use? Really I'd love to be able to make these without eggs - any chance?

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  8. M, Sorry I forgot to include eggs. Unfortunately you need 2 eggs for the recipe.

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  9. Anonymous5:25 AM

    Hi,
    your mushroom cookies seem very yummy! can you, please, give the equivalent of 2 sticks of butter in GRAMS so i can try them?
    thanks in advance

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  10. Hi Kaouther,
    Sorry I saw your questions just now; 1 stick makes approximately 125 grams.

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  11. I was able to make this recipe without eggs. It turned out great and looked just like the picture here.

    I used "flaxseed eggs" which are made with flaxseeds and water-no actual egg at all. The recipe I used is here: http://veganicecream.blogspot.com/2006/09/
    vegan-brownies.html
    Scroll down toward the bottom where it says "Note" for instructions.

    Thanks for an easy, wonderful recipe!

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