Alternative names | Iraqi Jewish almond cookies, Iraqi almond cookies, Babylonian almond cookies, Iraqi macaroon |
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Type | Cookie |
Place of origin | Iraq, Iran India, Israel, United Kingdom |
Region or state | Babylon and Bombay |
Created by | Iraqi Jews |
Serving temperature | room temp |
Main ingredients | Ground almonds and/or walnuts, eggs, sugar/honey, ground cardamom, cinnamon, garam masala, rose water, icing sugar |
Variations | Marunchinos |
Hadji bada, also known as Iraqi Jewish almond cookies, [1] [2] is a popular Israeli cookie of Sephardi Jewish origin made with ground blanched almonds or walnuts, egg whites, sugar or more traditionally honey, spices, and oftentimes topped with whole almonds and infused with rose water, that is traditionally made during Passover (Pesach), as it is one of the few desserts which is unleavened and does not contain chametz (wheat and similar grains). [3] [4]
Hadji bada originated among the Iraqi Jewish community in Babylon at some point in ancient times. Similar cookies are attested in Jewish culinary tradition dating back thousands of years and existed in Jewish communities around the world, including the marunchinos and Ashkenazi macaroons, which points to a shared ancient Israelite origin, as the ingredients common to these similar Jewish almond cookies, almond, egg and honey/sugar/date syrup, were relatively abundant in Israel and the Levant. There are several similar Jewish cookies in other Jewish communities, which are commonly baked both during Passover and all year, such as egg kichel, macaroons, and many others. In the aftermath of the persecution and subsequent exile of the Iraqi Jews to the UK, Israel, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, and other parts of the former British Empire; the Iraqi Jews brought with them their culinary traditions to their new homes and continued to bake them as part of their Passover celebrations. When cane sugar was brought back to Europe, South Asia, and the Middle East in the 1500s, it began to gradually supplant the traditional use of honey in most hadji bada recipes. Iraqi Jews who remained in Iraq and the Indian subcontinent often only used almonds and added rose water, while Iraqi Jews living in nations such as the UK and USA, as well as the New World, would often make a plainer cookie with just ground almonds and walnuts, egg whites, cinnamon and sugar and dusted with icing sugar. [1] [3] [5]
Hadji bada is a small, round white to light golden-colored cookie. They are made with blanched almonds and/or walnuts that have been ground to a meal, egg whites, and either honey or more commonly sugar, as well as a variety of additions such as a whole almond in the centre, rose water, pistachios, cardamom, or cinnamon. They are often dusted with powdered sugar after baking. [6]
Hadji bada is associated with the celebration of the Jewish holiday Pesach. It is a common custom in Israel for Iraqi Jewish families to bake hadji bada and serve them at the Passover seder. [5] [7] Variations of this cookie are made with very different ingredients such as flour or coconut in lieu of the ground nuts, but go by the same name, hadji bada, are traditionally made by Iraqi and Persian Jews to celebrate Purim. [8] [9] [10]
Hadji bada are commonly baked at home and are also available from bakeries across Israel, as well as in the Iraqi Jewish diaspora in countries such as at United Kingdom, Singapore, and in cities such as London and Hong Kong. [4] [8] [3] [10]
A macaroon is a small cake or cookie, originally made from ground almonds, egg whites, and sugar, and now often with coconut or other nuts. They may also include jam or chocolate or other flavorings.
Rice pudding is a dish made from rice mixed with water or milk and other ingredients such as cinnamon, vanilla, and raisins.
Jewish cuisine refers to the worldwide cooking traditions of the Jewish people. During its evolution over the course of many centuries, it has been shaped by Jewish dietary laws (kashrut), Jewish festivals and holidays, and traditions centred around Shabbat. Jewish cuisine is influenced by the economics, agriculture, and culinary traditions of the many countries where Jewish communities have settled and varies widely throughout the entire world.
Charoset, haroset, or charoises is a sweet, dark-colored paste made of fruits and nuts eaten at the Passover Seder. According to the Talmud, its color and texture are meant to recall mortar, which the Israelites used when they were enslaved in Ancient Egypt, as mentioned in Tractate Pesahim 116a of the Talmud. The word comes from the Hebrew word for clay.
A macaron or French macaroon is a sweet meringue-based confection made with egg white, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond meal, and often food colouring.
A buñuelo (Spanish:[buˈɲwelo], alternatively called boñuelo, bimuelo, birmuelo, bermuelo, bumuelo, burmuelo, or bonuelo, is a fried dough fritter found in Spain, Latin America, and other regions with a historical connection to Spaniards, including Southwest Europe, the Balkans, Anatolia, and other parts of Asia and North Africa. Buñuelos are traditionally prepared at Christmas. It will usually have a filling or a topping. In Mexican cuisine, it is often served with a syrup made with piloncillo.
Mandelbrot, with a number of variant spellings, and called mandel bread or kamish in English-speaking countries and kamishbrot in Ukraine, is a type of cookie found in Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine and popular amongst Eastern European Jews. The Yiddish word mandlbroyt literally means almond bread, a reference to its common ingredient of almonds. It is typically formed by baking a loaf which is then cut into small slabs and twice-baked in order to form a crunchy exterior. The cookies were popular in Eastern Europe among rabbis, merchants and other itinerant Jews as a staple dessert that kept well.
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Sephardic Jewish cuisine is an assortment of cooking traditions that developed among the Sephardi Jews.
Israeli cuisine primarily comprises dishes brought from the Jewish diaspora, and has more recently been defined by the development of a notable fusion cuisine characterized by the mixing of Jewish cuisine and Arab cuisine. It also blends together the culinary traditions of the various diaspora groups, namely those of Middle Eastern Jews with roots in Southwest Asia and North Africa, Sephardi Jews from Iberia, and Ashkenazi Jews from Central and Eastern Europe.
Ka'ak or kahqa is the common Arabic word for cake or biscuit, in its various senses, and can refer to several different types of baked goods produced throughout the Arab world and the Near East. The bread, in Middle Eastern countries, is similar to a dry and hardened biscuit and mostly ring-shaped. Similar pastry, called "kue kaak", is also popular in Indonesia.
Mizrahi Jewish cuisine is an assortment of cooking traditions that developed among the Jews of the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, and Arab countries. Mizrahi Jews have also been known as Oriental Jews.
Sponge cake is a light cake made with eggs, flour and sugar, sometimes leavened with baking powder. Some sponge cakes do not contain egg yolks, like angel food cake, but most of them do. Sponge cakes, leavened with beaten eggs, originated during the Renaissance, possibly in Spain. The sponge cake is thought to be one of the first non-yeasted cakes, and the earliest attested sponge cake recipe in English is found in a book by the English poet Gervase Markham, The English Huswife, Containing the Inward and Outward Virtues Which Ought to Be in a Complete Woman (1615). Still, the cake was much more like a cracker: thin and crispy. Sponge cakes became the cake recognised today when bakers started using beaten eggs as a rising agent in the mid-18th century. The Victorian creation of baking powder by English food manufacturer Alfred Bird in 1843 allowed the addition of butter to the traditional sponge recipe, resulting in the creation of the Victoria sponge. Cakes are available in many flavours and have many recipes as well. Sponge cakes have become snack cakes via the Twinkie.
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Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine is an assortment of cooking traditions that was developed by the Ashkenazi Jews of Central, Eastern, Northwestern and Northern Europe, and their descendants, particularly in the United States and other Western countries.
Marunchinos, also known as Sephardi macaroons, is a popular Israeli cookie of Sephardi Jewish origin made with ground blanched almonds or almond flour, egg whites, sugar or more traditionally honey, spices, and oftentimes dried fruit and orange blossom or rose water, that is traditionally made during Passover (Pesach), as it is one of the few desserts which is unleavened and does not contain chametz.