🍪 Kleicha
Kleicha are Iraqi cookies made from a buttery, cardamom-scented dough rolled around a filling of date paste perfumed with rose water. They are brushed with egg, sprinkled with sesame seeds and baked until golden. The pastry is crumbly and the centre soft, sticky and sweet. They are served with tea, especially at Eid.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 400 g wheat flour
- 180 g butter, melted
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 150 ml warm water
- 400 g date paste
- 1 tbsp rose water
- 1 egg, beaten, and 2 tbsp sesame seeds
Method
- Rub the melted butter into the flour, cardamom and baking powder, add water and knead a soft dough; rest 30 minutes.
- Soften the date paste with the rose water.
- Roll the dough thin, spread with dates, roll into a log and cut into rounds.
- Brush with egg, sprinkle with sesame and bake at 180 °C for 20–25 minutes until golden.
How to make it lighter
- Make the cookies smaller: about 30 g each rather than 50 g.
- Spread the date filling thinner; dates are dense in sugar.
- Count one or two with tea instead of eating from the plate.
History
Kleicha is often called Iraq's national cookie and is baked in large batches before Eid and other celebrations, frequently as a family activity. Similar date-filled pastries are found across the Gulf and the Levant.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →