Fekkas Cereals (Mini Biscottis)

For as long as I can remember, my mom, my brothers and I used to spend our summer holidays in Morocco. That was the sacred rule until I started doing internships and working, when I had to start counting my days off, and all of sudden, life got all serious and complicated #adultlife.

In Morocco, we would often spend the largest part of our summer at my grandma's. For breakfast, we used to enjoy basic Moroccan breakfast essentials such as eggs, krachel, baghrir, harcha and msemen. And when we craved our western cornflakes, my mother would make for us bowls of what my brothers and I called “Moroccan cereals”. Then, globalisation happened, my mom could finally buy our favourite cereals in Fez, Morocco and we stopped having our "Moroccan cereals". I had forgotten about them until last year when Molly Yeh, aka the cutest blogger of all times, posted her hazelnut sugar cookie cereals.

Seeing her cute little heart shaped cookies mixed with milk reminded me of the mini fekkas we used to have for breakfast at my grandma's. Fekkas are a kind of aniseeds and sesame seeds biscottis that are very popular in Morocco. They come in different sizes and are usually served along side tea or coffee.

My mom usually makes them with raisins and roasted almonds but for my cereals, I preferred making them plain so I could add whatever kind of nuts or dried fruits to my bowl. It brought back so many nice memories, thanks for the inspiration Molly! 

Fekkas Cereals

Serves  4

INGREDIENTS

• 180 gr plain flour and more for flouring
• 100 gr caster sugar
• 3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon aniseeds
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch salt
• 30 ml vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon orange blossom water
• Desired choice and amount of dried fruits and nuts such as cranberry, pistachios and hazelnuts
• Milk to serve

METHOD

• Preheat the oven to 180 C (356 F)

• In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, aniseeds, baking powder and salt. In a another bowl, stir together the oil, egg and orange blossom water and transfer this wet mixture into the dry ingredients. Combine all the ingredients together using your hand or a large spoon until you obtain a soft dough.

• Flour a worktop and knead the dough for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. Divide the dough into 5 equal parts. Shape each part into long tubes (of approximately 30cm long and 2,5cm large) and place them on lined baking sheet leaving at least 3cm between each of them. Transfer in the oven and bake until the tubes start to firm up and become lightly tan.

• Remove from the oven and place on wire rack to cool. Once the tubes have cooled down and firmed up, slice them on the diagonal into 1cm thick slices.

• Place the mini fekkas on a lined baking tray and bake again for 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown and crisp.

• Allow the mini fekkas to cool before serving. Serve with milk and your desired choice and amount of dried fruits and nuts such as cranberry, pistachios and hazelnuts. Store the fekkas in an airtight container to prevent them from drying out.