Happy Coptic Christmas! 

This entire last week my kitchen was in full swing, prepping for an elaborate lunch to celebrate Coptic Christmas on January 7th, with lovely foreign guests. 

I served a four course menu featuring a galore of traditional Egyptian recipes.

I started my guest off on a rich mezzah platter, followed by Shorbet Kolkas (Tarro Soup).

The main dish was Kabab Hala (Meat Stew) served with Jeweled Rice, while the dessert was a cooling Mastic-scented Muhalabiya (Milk Pudding, ) topped with rosewater and red fruits coulis. 

I was so busy prepping for this elaborate dinner, to the point of having no time or energy to bake traditional Egyptian cookies for Christmas, which I was hoping to share on my blog. Yet, someone made my wish come true.

After eyeing her delicious page on Instagram for some time, I reached out to Marian @marianjoyfulkitchen, the Egyptian-American food blogger, and asked her to share her recipe of Petit Four. Much to my happiness, Marian generously accepted. Thank you loads, Marian, for sharing!  

Now I will leave you with Marian to tell you more about herself and her fully tested recipe of these yummy Egyptian Christmas Cookies. 

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Hi, I am Marian. I was born and raised in Egypt, yet, moved to Massachusetts, USA twelve years ago.

I have a bachelor degree of hospitality and management, and worked for several years in the food & beverage industry. This line of work allowed me to meet many chefs who represent various cuisines and cultures, from whom I gained a wealth of knowledge about food.

My ongoing passion for all things food including cooking, baking, and food photography prompted my digital presence.  I currently manage a food blog and have an active IG page @marianjoyfulkitchen that features many delectable recipes inspired by my Egyptian food heritage.  

Today, I would like to share Egyptian famous cookies, Petit Four, which are associated with Coptic Christmas. Please don’t confuse these cookies with the French Petit Four, as they are two different things, in terms of texture and taste. In fact, these Egyptian cookies are closer to Western butter cookies.

The wafting aromas of these cookies while they bake in the oven conjures up precious childhood memories of me as a small kid helping my mom in her kitchen, shape the Petit Four into beautiful small flowers.

My immediate Egyptian-American family are big fans of these cookies, therefore I bake them pretty often. 

Here is the recipe!

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Egyptian Christmas Cookies Petit Four

 

Recipe Credit to: Marian Guirguis 

Makes 25 cookies 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup of butter, softened and at room temperature
• ¾ cup of confectioners (powdered) sugar 
• 1 medium egg
• 1 medium egg yolk 
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla 
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder 
• A pinch sea salt 
• 2 ¾ cup all purpose flour 
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened coco powder

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Prepare the cookie batter. Add the butter and confectioners sugar to a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high speed for 8 minutes until mixture becomes fluffy and soft. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well for another 2 minutes. Add flour, salt, and baking powder and stop using the mixer at this point. Instead mix slowly with a spatula until a soft dough (not sticky) forms. Avoid over mixing.
3. Divide the cookies in two equal balls. Leave one as is, while adding the coco powder to the other half. Knead gently until the coco powder is well incorporated. 
4. Shape the cookies. For shaping the cookies, you can either use a pastry bag or a cookie press. Arrange the cookies on a baking sheets lined with parchment paper. 
5. Bake the cookies. These cookies will bake in 8 to 10 minutes. Once their bottom slightly deepens in color, remove them from the oven, and allow them to cool on the baking tray. They will continue to bake while sitting on the hot tray and firm up.
6. Serve the cookies as is or glue each vanilla cookie to its chocolate counterpart using apricot jam. 

NOTES 

• You can create a low-calorie version of these cookies by reducing the all purpose flour to 1 ½ cup flour and adding 1 ½ cup of almond flour, which will be equally tasty with the same soft texture.