Hawaij Snickerdoodles

An autumnal spin on the classic snickerdoodle. This easy snickerdoodle recipe features a homemade hawaij spice blend, sticky molasses, thin crunchy edges and soft chewy centers.

This past weekend, Tahini and I made a short trip to South Florida to host a small, socially-distanced baby shower for my sister-in-law, Laura. Laura and I met 10 years ago this month at a sorority rush event during my sophomore year of college and we became best friends right away. It took us about five minutes to realize that we were going to be great buddies and so began a lifetime of sleepovers and cookie baking. And then, lucky for us, I met Laura’s brother, Martin, and we fell in love and got married and now Laura is my real-life sister and it’s a really wonderful set-up. All of this to say, my best friend and sister is having a baby this year and that makes this new addition to our family a little extra special for me.

The shower itself was pretty low-key, so we wanted the food to reflect that same vibe. I made one big, grazing counter filled with fruits, veggies, dips, jams, charcuterie, cheeses, and lots of hunks of bread. We had sparkling lemonade and I made a chocolate cake with caramel ganache frosting that almost sweated off the sides on the three hour drive down south, but we covered it up with flowers which did an excellent job masking the saggy sides of the cake. And then I made these Hawaij snickerdoodles which taste like a dusting of fall and everyone was very into them.

Hawaij (pronounced ha-why-udge) is a Yemeni spice blend that is used in all sorts of dishes, from meats and soups to desserts and coffee. The spices tend to vary depending on the usage of the blend and the word Hawaij actually means “mixture” in Arabic so I think that gives a bit of freedom in the makeup. I first discovered hawaij in Molly Yeh’s book Molly on the Range, and started keeping some around the house to grind with my coffee beans in the mornings. I’ve very lightly adapted her version with the addition of coriander and will occasionally add a crank or two of black pepper. It’s the perfect spice blend to make your snickerdoodles a little more interesting and my cousin says that these cookies taste like cinnamon toast crunch which feels like a win in my book.

Yield

20-22 cookies

Author

Anna Ramiz

Prep time

15 Min

Cook time

10 Min

Inactive time

30 Min

Total time

55 Min

Print

With ImageWithout Image

Hawaij Snickerdoodles

An autumnal spin on the classic snickerdoodle. This easy snickerdoodle recipe features a homemade hawaij spice blend, sticky molasses, thin crunchy edges and soft chewy centers.

Ingredients

for the hawaij spice blend (lightly adapted from Molly Yeh)

• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tbsp ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp ground coriander

for the cookie dough

• 2 cups (240 g) all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1 1/2 tsp Hawaij spice blend
• 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (56 g) brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (113 g) butter
• 1/3 cup (43 g) olive oil
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• 2 tbsp molasses
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

for rolling

• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp demerara sugar
• 1 tsp Hawaij spice blend

Instructions

1. To make the spice blend: combine all of the spices in a small bowl and whisk together.
2. Place butter in a small saucepan and set over medium heat. Cook, swirling every minute or so, until butter is foamy and beginning to brown, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer and let cool to room temperature.
3. Meanwhile, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, and Hawaij spice blend. Set aside.
4. When the butter is cooled, add sugar, and brown sugar to the mixing bowl. Beat with paddle attachment for about 1 minute, until all of the sugar is coated and the mixture has the consistency of wet sand. With the mixer on low speed, stream in olive oil and continue mixing until combined and homogenized.
5. Add the egg, vanilla, and molasses, and mix until combined, then gradually add dry ingredients, mixing until just incorporated and no dry streaks remain. The dough will be very wet, that’s ok!
6. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator. Chill for at least 30 minutes. When the dough is chilled, scoop onto a parchment lined baking sheet. At this time, you can bake the cookies or transfer them to the freezer and bake them off a few at a time.
7. When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375° F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. In a small bowl, combine sugar, demerara sugar, and Hawaij spice blend. Roll each cookie ball in the Hawaij sugar and place on a baking sheet, spaced 1-2” inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the tops are dry and cookies are set. Let cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then enjoy!

Similar Recipes

Salted Almond Dark Chocolate Cookies

Soft Ginger Cookies

Citrus, Earl Grey, and Caramelized White Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @gatheredatmytable on instagram and hashtag it #gatheredatmytable

Schiacciata with Caramelized Onions and Figs

I’ve been feeling pretty old this week. While I haven’t been creator in this food blogging world for very long, I’ve been an avid food blog reader and cookbook enthusiast since my freshmen year of college…which was over ten years ago. Back then, the only way to discover new blogs was to spend hours browsing through Food Gawker or Pinterest, and through their writing, these food bloggers quickly became virtual friends. I would regularly check their websites for new content. Not just recipes, but stories and short little essays about their lives, friends and family, and yes, cookies. I would invite these cooks into my kitchen in the form of their recipes, not because their pictures were perfectly styled or they had massive followings, but because their writing and their recipes resonated with me. I loved this little world of food blogging and dreamed about one day being a part of it. I dreamed about writing stories that people got excited to read, developing new recipes that my own little community looked forward to each week, and through this blogging portal, entering into a stranger’s kitchen and coaching them through making something new.

Fast forward a handful of years and the food blogging landscape looks a little different. Those people whose websites I ran back to time and time again are still out in the blog-o-sphere, and they are still the ones I go to for inspiration, though I’ve added a few new ones to the mix. But sometimes it feels like the future of food blogging hinges on flashy images that catch your attention in a nano-second, or easily-digestible clips that can be viewed (or skipped over) in an instant. At risk of sounding like a crotchety old lady, the thing I love most about food is that it is an experience. Kneading dough takes time and tactile effort. Waiting for bread to rise takes patience, and decorating cakes is intricate work. In order to be successful in this industry, do I have to hack all of that away in an effort to gain more likes? I don’t know the answer to this. I don’t think any of us in this little world really know the answer to this, but I find myself asking if there is still space for my slightly old school approach to food blogging in this fast-paced industry. I think it will be a little give and take and I’m working to find my niche in a way that feels authentic to me, while also using the tools that technology affords me as a way to grow my business. With all of the craziness of the past few months, I think we’ve all had our eyes opened to the importance of slowing down and I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how to carry that with me as life begins to speed up again.

Now, lets talk schiacciata! Schiacciata is a Tuscan-style flatbread, similar to a focaccia but with a lower hydration level which makes it a little thinner and a little crisper. As if focaccia and pizza had a baby. It’s an easier dough to throw together and only needs a couple of hours to do it’s thing, which means you can start it in the afternoon and eat it for dinner. The recipe for this dough is lightly adapted from Sweet by Helen Goh and Yotam Ottolenghi, which is my very favorite book of all time. The dough is topped with tangles of caramelized onions and fresh figs that have been tossed in za’atar and feels like that perfect time of year when summer nights are waning, but fall hasn’t quite arrived. You can by za’atar at your local Middle Eastern Market or on Amazon, but I made my own using this recipe. It’s fairly simple and uses mostly spices that you already have on hand.

Schiacciata with Caramelized Onions and Figs

Yield: 1 10x16” flatbread

Schiacciata dough recipe adapted from Helen Goh

Ingredients 

for the dough

2 2/3 cup (330 g) bread flour

3/4 tsp active dry yeast

220 g warm water

2 tbsp olive oil, plus more for the pan

1 egg yolk

1 tsp kosher salt

1 1/2 tsp granulated sugar

for the onions

1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

a hefty pinch of salt

for the figs and toppings

1 lb fresh figs, quartered

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp za’atar 

honey, to drizzle

goat cheese

flaky salt for finishing

Procedure: 

1. In a large bowl, stir together water, yeast, and half of the flour, until no dry streaks of flour remain. Cover with plastic wrap and let proof at room temperature for about an hour, until dough is bubbly and swollen.

2. Transfer the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment and add the rest of the flour, olive oil, egg yolk, salt, and sugar. Knead on medium speed for about 6 minutes, until the dough is smooth and cohesive, pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Scrape down the sides, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and proof for another hour, until doubled in size. 

3. While the dough is proofing, caramelize the onions. Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add butter and olive oil to the pan and when they begin to sizzle, add the onions. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are beginning to lightly brown on the edges. Turn the heat down to low, sprinkle with a hefty pinch of salt, and cook for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring frequently, until they are very soft and dark brown in color. Remove from heat and let cool while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. 

4. In a medium bowl, toss quartered figs with a tablespoon of olive oil, za’atar, and a pinch of salt. Set aside. 

5. When the dough has doubled in size, preheat the oven to 450° F. Drizzle a tablespoon or two of olive oil over a rimmed sheet pan and turn the dough onto the oiled pan. Use your hands to gently stretch and push the dough into a rustic rectangle, about 10x16” in size. 

6. Spread the tangles of caramelized onions over the surface of the dough, followed by the figs. Drizzle the entire thing with a little olive oil one more time, then bake for 20-22 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, until the edges of the crust are golden brown and the bottom of the dough is crisp. 

7. Remove schiacciata from the oven, sprinkle with goat cheese and flaky salt and drizzle with honey. 

more recipes like this

samin nosrat’s focaccia

go to recipe

pesto challah

go to recipe

spiced scallion semolina bread

go to recipe

Salted Honey and Banana Snack Cake

This easy banana cake recipe is made with ripe bananas, sour cream, and a few warming spices and is topped with addictive salted honey whipped cream.

This week has been a busy one and I barely had time to get this recipe typed up and posted, but, whew! We made it! This is a perfect cake for busy days because it’s super easy to throw together and uses ingredients that are probably already hanging out in your pantry. On top of that, I feel like every Wednesday needs a good snack cake.

Salted honey is my new favorite flavor combo and I’ve been incorporating it any way I can. It started a few months ago at the restaurant when we threw together a salted honey chantilly last minute for a special dessert and it was love at first bite. The salty-sweet combo complements pretty much everything and gives a surprisingly complex flavor to otherwise simple treats. In this cake, the tanginess of the sour cream really highlights the salted honey and this little banana snack is one you’ll be coming back to time and time again.

Yield: one 9x13" pan

Author: Anna Ramiz

Print

With ImageWithout Image

Salted Honey and Banana Snack Cake

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 25 MinTotal time: 40 Min

This easy banana cake recipe is made with ripe bananas, sour cream, and a few warming spices and is topped with addictive salted honey whipped cream.

Ingredients

for the cake

• 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/4 cup (60 g) granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup (50 g) brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (115 g) sour cream, at room temperature
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 cups (240 g) all purpose flour

for the frosting

• 1 cup (230 g) sour cream
• 3/4 cup (170 g) heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup (30 g) powdered sugar, sifted
• 1/4 cup (80 g) honey
• 1 tsp kosher salt

Instructions

to make the cake

1. Preheat oven to 350° F and line a 9x13” pan with parchment paper.
2. Place butter in a small saucepan and set over medium heat, swirling regularly, until it begins to foam, about 6 minutes. Butter should be fragrant and nutty, with little brown flecks. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom, cinnamon, and kosher salt. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine browned butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Mix on medium speed until smooth and reaches the consistency of very wet sand.
5. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition until homogenous, followed by the vanilla extract and the bananas.
6. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the sour cream beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. When the last of the dry ingredients have been added, mix until just combined and no dry streaks remain.
7. Transfer batter to prepared pan and smooth into an even layer with a small offset spatula. Bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until cake is golden brown and beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. A knife or toothpick inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

to make the frosting

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment combine sour cream and heavy cream. Whip, starting on low speed and gradually increasing speed until cream is thickened and soft peaks form.
2. Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract, honey and salt, and continue whipping on medium-high speed until medium peaks form, or the consistency of whipped cream.
3. Scoop and swirl frosting over the cooled banana cake and serve immediately.

Similar Recipes

Banana Tahini Breakfast Cake

Banana Muffins with Cinnamon Oat Crumble

Dirty Chai Banana Bread

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @gatheredatmytable on instagram and hashtag it #gatheredatmytable

Created using The Recipes Generator