cooking

So we're going to Istanbul Flower tonight with a mess of friends. Sometimes, not always, but often, this particular group tends to return to our house for coffee and continued discussion of "WHAT is going to happen in Dubai???!?!?!?!" after dinner.
So I usually provide dessert. Sometimes I go to Al Reef Bakery and get the baklava selection. Sometimes I make apple crumble which is what I was thinking I might do today.
But then THIS beautiful box of arabic sesame sweets caught my eye when I should have been looking for apples. Oh man! I have been thinking about giving these things a try forever and let me tell you, they are AMAZINGLY GOOD!!!
Clockwise from 1 o'clock (click on the photo to see it in its full size sesame glory...)
1. chocolate and sesame- smooth on top and flaky in the middle
2. plain sesame- smooth throughout
3. pistachio and sesame- crispy pistachio on top, smooth sesame, then flaky sesame in the middle.
4. wafer cookie- wafer cookie rolled around fluffy sesame filling with chocolate bits (favorite!)
5. ribbon- a ribbon-y stick of sesame and chocolate sesame paste
6. sesame ribbon- smooth sesame paste ribbon
According to a friend who knows such things, you have to check the production/ expiration dates religiously. Anything more than a week old and they get stale although they are dated to be good for a year.
This is bad bad bad because I was trying to quit eating sugar. Not today.