Sekerpare (Syrup-Soaked Semolina Cookies)
Buttery semolina cookies baked until golden, each crowned with an almond and left to drink up lemon syrup until they turn soft as Turkish delight — sekerpare is the sweetest word in Turkish for a reason.
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Ingredients
250g unsalted butter, softened
100g icing sugar
1 whole egg plus 1 yolk, at room temperature
100g fine semolina
350g plain flour, plus a little extra if needed
10g (1 sachet) baking powder
5g (1 sachet) vanilla sugar
Pinch of salt
About 25 raw almonds, to decorate
500g granulated sugar, for the syrup
500ml water, for the syrup
2 tsp lemon juice, for the syrup
Instructions
- 1
Make the syrup first: boil the sugar and water for 15 minutes, stir in the lemon juice, boil 2 more minutes and set aside — it should be warm, not boiling, when the cookies come out.
- 2
Heat the oven to 170C (fan 155C) and beat the softened butter with the icing sugar until creamy.
- 3
Beat in the whole egg and yolk, then add the semolina, vanilla sugar, baking powder and salt.
- 4
Work in the flour gradually until you have a soft, slightly oily dough that just holds its shape — do not knead it firm.
- 5
Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls (about 25), space them well apart in a deep baking tray, and press a raw almond gently into the top of each one.
- 6
Bake for 20-25 minutes until deep golden; the cookies will spread and crack slightly, which is exactly right.
- 7
Pour the warm syrup evenly over the hot cookies as soon as they come out of the oven — it will bubble up around them.
- 8
Leave the tray uncovered for at least 2 hours, spooning syrup from the edges back over the tops occasionally, until fully absorbed and the sekerpare are glossy and tender.
The name sekerpare means "a piece of sugar", and these little domes live up to it. A soft dough of butter, fine semolina and flour is rolled into walnut-sized balls, each one topped with a single almond, baked to a deep gold and then flooded with syrup. As they rest, the outside stays lightly crisp while the centre turns melt-in-the-mouth tender.
The dough should feel soft and slightly oily, never firm like shortbread — resist adding extra flour, as a softer dough drinks the syrup better. And here the classic rule flips from revani: sekerpare are traditionally soaked with the syrup still warm over the just-baked cookies, then left alone for a couple of hours. Patience is the only hard part; they need time to absorb every drop.
Everything here is store-cupboard simple, and the proper Turkish staples — fine semolina, real butter, vanilla sugar and baking powder — arrive in one Turkish Online Market order. Serve sekerpare the way they do in Turkish homes: two pieces on a small plate, a bitter Turkish coffee alongside to balance the sweetness, and no plans for the next half hour.
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