Armenian Easter Cookies
Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter despite the global pandemic! We made the best of it by dressing up, taking pictures, and visiting relatives from a safe distance of 10 feet away out on their yards. And of course, I cooked a delicious dinner - roasted fingerling potatoes with fresh thyme, corn on the cob, fresh tomatoes with pesto, quinoa tabbouleh, green beans with butter and lemon, and sauteed marsala mushrooms!
This was my first time making Armenian cookies, and since I couldn’t go buy ingredients, I used a bunch of substitutions, which I put in parenthesis below :)
(I also included step-by-step videos instead of photos this time - but you can see them in my instagram stories.)
Ingredients:
7 cups flour
1 cup white granulated sugar (I ran out so used some coconut sugar I had in the cupboard)
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp mahleb (I used instead 1/2 tsp allspice, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground caraway seeds)
2 tsp nigella seeds (I used black sesame seeds)
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup almond milk (unsweetened!)
2 cups vegan butter (I used Miyoko’s)
2 Tbsp melted vegan butter (to brush on before baking)
2 Tbsp sesame seeds (to decorate)
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line several baking sheets (5 or 6ish) with parchment paper.
Mix all dry ingredients in a very large bowl (my stand mixer was beyond capacity…)
Slowly add in wet ingredients and butter, while still mixing.
Knead dough with your hands until everything is just incorporated.
Using your hands, roll dough into ping pong sized balls.
Roll balls into long strands and carefully shape into braids, ribbons, or hoops/circles.
Place cookies onto lined baking sheets and brush each one with melted butter. Decorate with white sesame seeds, if desired.
Bake for 25 min or until golden brown.
Let cool and enjoy!
