Bakar Khani ~ Sweet Puff Pastry Biscuits from Pakistan

I love cookery books, not only do I like cooking from them but I like reading them from cover to cover. I admire the beautiful photos and imagine the author creating all the wonderful dishes in far away places. I own many recipe books but my most favorite ones are those that tell a story and take you back to the roots.

Mountain Berries & Desert Spice by Sumayya Usmani is one book that I totally fell in love with even before I had opened the front page. I loved the beautiful bold orange and pink cover with a paisley intricate flowery design. I immediately wanted to touch the book and peer at what it contained.

When I  looked at the book, I can say I was totally thrilled with the content. The book has recipes that are inspired from the Hunza Valley to the Arabian Sea. The book has authentic Pakistani sweet and dessert recipes using amazing spices and Eastern flavours. The desserts are very lavish and beautifully captured.

Included in the book is a chapter explaining all the authentic ingredients used in the recipes which is extremely helpful for those who are creating the recipes for the first time and are new to the ingredients. The book takes you on a sweet and aromatic journey through mouth watering desserts.

There are so many recipes that I want to make from the book such as the Pakistani Jalebis which are crunchy spirals dipped in a sugar syrup. The Qawwami Seviyan, a roasted vermicelli topped with nuts and Bakar Khani which is a sweet puff pastry biscuit. I finally started with the Bakar Khani, you can see my recreation below which was made with a few minor changes from the original recipe .

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Bakar Khani (Sweet Puff Pastry Biscuits)

by Nayna Kanabar July-26-2017

Sweet Puff Pastry Biscuits with nuts and poppy seeds

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet (320 g) Ready to Roll Puff Pastry
• 2 tablespoons Caster Sugar
• 60 g Pistachio, almonds and cashew nuts (coarsely ground)
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Cardamom
• 1 tablespoon Milk
• 2 tablespoons Butter (melted)
• 1 tablespoon Poppy Seeds

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/350 degrees F 2. In bowl add the nuts, cardamom powder and sugar and mix together well.3. On a lightly floured surface unroll the puff pastry and smooth it out.4. Brush the pastry with the melted butter and sprinkle the chopped nut mixture on top.5. Roll up the pastry from the long side and make a swiss roll shape.Secure the end by pressing the pastry down with your finger, so that the biscuits don't unravel whilst cooking.6. Cut the pastry swiss roll into 1 cm thick rounds and place them on a grease baking tray.7. Using your fingers apply pressure to the outer edges of the discs to flatten them slightly to thin them so that when baking the centre of the biscuit rises to form a dome shape.8. Brush the biscuits with some milk using a brush and sprinkle them with poppy seeds. 9. Bake in a pre heated oven for 18-20 minutes, until the biscuits are a light golden brown in colour. 

Details

Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 40 mins Yield: 16

The original recipe did not have nuts in it , that was my personal addition. The Bakar Khani, turned out delicious and they were really flaky and delicious served with a cup of strong Arabic coffee. You can store them in an airtight container for up to a week.

I totally loved the book and would highly recommend it to anyone who likes Eastern desserts.

Book Details :
Mountain Berries & Desert Spice Book  by Sumayya Usmani
ISBN978-0-7112-3852-7
Retails  £20.00

My score for the book: 14/15 this is a high score but the book is definitely worthy of it.

Content -5/5
Illustrations-5/5
Recipe Instructions-4/5

 I was sent a copy of the book to review as always all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.