GastronomicGallivant: SekerPare, The Turkish Sugar Cookie

Sekerpare(Sugar Bit) - These authentic baked hazelnut-topped, sugar-syrup saturated turkish sugar cookies taste a lot like "Gulab Jamun", the Indian sweet.The difference is that this is baked and has eggs. Since this has plenty of sugar,my advise to any sweet lover is to indulge this wicked dessert in moderation.

Ingredients(Recipe Courtesy: Ms.Arslan):

• All-Purpose Flour - 2 cups, sifted
• Eggs - 2, whisked
• Confectioner's sugar - 1/3 cup
• Baking Powder - 2 tsp
• Unsalted Butter - 1 stick, room temperature
• Grated coconut - 2 tbsp
• Olive Oil - 2 tbsp
• Hazelnuts

For the Sugar Syrup:

• Granulated Sugar - 2 cups
• Water - 2 cups
• Lemon Juice - from 1/2 a lemon

Procedure:

• In a thick bottomed sauce pan, mix the sugar and water and turn up the heat.
• Add juice of the lemon and keep stirring till it comes to a roiling boil for about 20 minutes.
• Switch off stove and cool the syrup completely.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Mix all the ingredients with hands, except the hazelnuts to make a nice soft dough.
• Divide the dough into 20 even-sized balls and shape it to look like a round biscuit.
• Plant one hazelnut in the center and bake until they turn light brown for about 20-25 minutes.

• Arrange the cookies quickly in a glass dish and pour the cold syrup on the top.Let it sit for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.
• Best if served cold.

Note:
The cookies should be allowed to absorb the sugar syrup for at least 6 hours.Else they will be slightly crunchy. They swell slightly as they absorb all the syrupy goodness.

Makes 20 servings.
Serving Size - 1

Enjoy!