I was both very intrigued and very seduced by the picture and recipe of these Persian Rice Cookies posted by Melissa at the Traveler's Lunch Box.
Sometime in late summer or early autumn of this year, I will host my parents-in-law's 50th wedding anniversary. I'm organizing this event as I do most of the family events I host, mixing all the 3 cultures I was exposed to in my life.
20 to 30 years ago, it was customary in Moroccan weddings to offer a wide assortment of delicious pastries accompanied with peppermint green tea (the moroccan national beverage) at the end of the reception dinner. Families hosting a wedding wanted the best of course, and the more the better. I attended weddings where no less than 15 to 20 elaborate and sophisticated pastries were offered as a finale of the feast.
But after bastella, roasted chicken with almonds and olives, a dish of lamb and no less than a minimum of 5 different side-dishes and salads, who had space left for pastries? Like it often happens in Morocco, somebody came up with the "take-out-dessert" favour boxes distributed when tea was served and all of the sudden, all wedding hosts
For my (canadians) parents-in-law jubilee, I will use this idea (which now we see happening in most moroccan weddings my family is invited to) and offer our guests a little favour box filled with delicate and sophisitcated cookies.
It was in this spirit I tried the Persian Rice Cookies featured by Melissa. And they passed the test "haut la main" the good look, sophistication and good taste pre-requisite. They are the first cookies to be selected for the favour box which will probably contain 4 or 5 other carefully tested sweets.
Bonne Année !
8 comments:
Oh qu'ils sont beaux, je suis moi aussi un peu intriguée, mais d'ores et déjà conquise ...
A tout à l'heure ! Nawal.
Et ils sont vraiment très délicats et "sophistiqués" au goût.
Merci de ta visite Nawal ! À plus...
Hi Zoubida! You have a really lovely blog here, and my mouth is watering at the delights you've been whipping up for the holidays! I'm so glad the rice cookies turned out for you - they look beautiful. I love the idea of giving them as wedding take-out desserts - funnily enough, in my post I joked about calling them 'Persian wedding cakes' because of their similarity in shape and texture to the Mexican ones of the same name, and supposedly this is traditionally how they make their appearance at Mexican weddings, i.e. wrapped up as take-home goodies for the guests. Anyway, I think they'll be perfect, and I can't wait to see what other treats you decide on for the wedding boxes!
Hi Melissa!
Yes, I remember well your "wink" to the Mexican Wedding Cakes and actually, the idea of take-out sweet boxes stemmed from there, your writtings provoked a series of moroccan weddings souvenirs and voilà, a nice multi-cultural anniversary project!
Thank you so much for your kind words!
Mmm, they look so pretty and tasty. Actually I stood in a shop some weeks ago with a bottle of rose water in my hand, hesitating, and eventually put it back because I didn´t know how to use it. I just liked the idea of water flavoured with roses or orange blossoms! After my buy-no-groceries month perhabs I will go and get some.
Hi Clivia,
I don't use much rose water actually. But I always keep a bottle of it in the fridge along with a bottle of orange blossom water. Sometimes, I feel like delicate tastes of middle-eastern pastries and those two are often required.
Rose water is delicious paired with cardamom...
Hi Zoubida - I remember those cookies on Melissa's blog and they look just as lovely here! I have a big bag of green pistachios in my cupboard, so I might try these myself..
Oh, and happy new year!
Hello Pille,
Mmmmm! Pistachios. I went through 500 g of them in December. I like them a lot. You'll see, the Rice Persian Cookies are very original.
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