White Cheese Pastries

White cheese pastries or Fatayer Jebneh in Arabic are widely known and loved by adults and kids alike in the Arab countries. These pastries are great to be served as appetisers, weekend brunch, or picnic snacks.

I baked mine using feta cheese, but any salty cheese you like would do! You can also use different flavourings, for example add cilantro, parsley, mint leaves, nigella seeds...

White cheese pastries Recipe
"Fatayer Jebneh"

Ingredients

• Dough:
• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast mixed with a little bit of warm water and 1 teaspoon of sugar
• a pinch of salt
• sesame seeds (optional)
• 
  
• Filling:
• 1 1/2 cups feta cheese or any other salty cheese
• 1/4 cup minced parsley (If you don't like parsley substitute with nigella seeds/black cumin)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 200°.
2. Gently mix instant yeast with warm water and sugar in a cup (yeast should become bubbly, if it doesn't it means that it has gone bad and you should replace it with another package).
3. In a medium sized bowl mix feta cheese with the minced parsley and/or nigella seeds. Put aside.
4. In another bowl mix the dough ingredients and blend well. Leave the dough for 30 minutes to rest in a warm place and cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap (it should double in size).
5. Cut the dough into egg sized balls and cover again with a clean towel or plastic wrap and let them rest for 10 minutes.
6. Roll each dough ball into oval shape then add filling to the centre.
7. Fold the dough to cover the filling and press the edges to seal it.
8. You can brush the pasties with some olive oil or an egg to give them a golden colour when they bake. Sprinkle the tops with sesame seeds (optional)
9. Bake in the oven until the tops are golden.

Serve with sweet mint or green tea!

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November Pumpkin Pie

Autumn is my favourite season of the year... when leaves turn into beautiful colours and you can easily find fresh pumpkins in the store (I went shopping last saturday and bought a huge pumpkin, sweet potatoes, persimmons, and papaya! yep my favourite season!)

This is the PERFECT pumpkin pie! This recipe took me by surprise, I didn't think that it would be THIS good. You will love the smooth texture of this pie, it's just like a very light version of cheesecake but with spicy pumpkin flavour.

I oven roasted a fresh piece of pumpkin for the puree (tastes MUCH better than canned pumpkin), here's an excellent tutorial for how to oven roast pumpkins for puree. 

Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 Graham crackers pie crust
• 2 cups pumpkin puree 
• 400 grams (1 can) condensed milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup flour
• * For pie crust:
• 1/3 cup unsalted melted butter
• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

Instructions

1. For pie crust: melt the butter, then in a medium sized bowl combine graham crackers, melted butter, and sugar; blend. Press into a 22cm pie pan and try to make the crust 1/3 cm evenly all around. Place in refrigerator while preparing the filling.  
2. Preheat oven to 220c.
3. Mix all ingredients in a medium sized bowl until texture is smooth.
4. Pour mixture into prepared pie crust and place into oven.
5. Bake for 5 minutes at 220c, then lower temperature to 175c and bake for 45 minutes. Check if ready by placing a toothpick in the centre of the pie and it should come out clean, make sure that the filling isn't wet but still moves if jiggled.
6. Cool the pie and serve with whipped cream on top.

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Persimmon Cookies Recipe

Autumn is the season for fresh Persimmons so baking Persimmon cookies is a great idea! 

You are going to love this cookie recipe because it is easy, quick, and healthy! For even healthier cookies you can always substitute sugar with some maple syrup or honey. These cookies are soft and chewy, and are great if you are baking for kids!

Persimmon Cookies Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 medium persimmons
• 1/3 cup butter (room temprature)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup walnuts
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl (Flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg)
3. Cut persimmons into small pieces (Make a puree using a food processor or just throw persimmons pieces in the batter).
4. In another mixing bowl mix butter with egg. Then add persimmons, mix well under blended.
5. Add dry ingredients into the mixing bowl and mix.
6. Fold crushed walnuts into batter.
7. Drop a tablespoon of batter onto a greased cookie sheet, place them about 2.5 centimetres apart from each other. 
8. Bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes.
9. Melt chocolate and decorate cookies.
10. Cool for at least 20 minutes before consuming (room temperature)
11. Store in airtight container if not consumed immediately. 

Choose to be grateful. Even the worst day is better than no day at all.

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