Bozcaada Mastic Cookies Recipe

There is a cookie that anyone goes to Bozcaada does not come back without eating it; famous almond cookies with mastic.

By the way if you don't know what mastic is; it is the resin of mastic trees. It's widely used in Greek, Turkish and other Levantine countries' cuisines.

Our guest today is this yummy mastic and almond cookies. I love anything with mastic. Mastic ice cream, Mastic bundt cake, mastic cookies and any other mastic food you can think of would be my first choice among different options.

That's why I try to share the famous mastic recipes from time to time. Where the mastic is, we are there, as in Cunda's famous mastic cookie recipe, Turkish cuisine's traditional mastic muhallebi recipe and mastic custard cookies. I say we, because where I am, you are naturally there. Today we are in Bozcaada.

Bozcaada cookies are made not only with mastic gum, of course, but also with almonds, as the name suggests. Almonds are used both ground and as a whole. Almond flour gives the cookie a crunchy and  wonderful consistency. Whole almonds are also a hallmark.

By the way, you can use store bought almond flour or you can grind it yourself at home. But it is important that the almonds are raw and unsalted. Another important thing that is important to bring the almond to the consistency of flour is the food processor you use. The bowl of the processor must be small. You can't grind almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, etc. in large bowl food processors finely.

How Do I Know When a Cookie Is Baked?

The most difficult part about baking cookies is to understand whether they are baked or not. The baking time of the cookies depends on your oven, whether your oven is fully preheated, the tray you use, the size of the cookies, etc.  Therefore, instead of keeping time, you should cook by observing. It looks cool when it comes to observing, but it's not really that cool. Observing means looking through the oven glass. The main indications are the cookies' loosing their dough appearance, drying and cracking. Not every cookie needs to be browned to be baked.

There are also cookies that do not change color despite being baked, as in recipes such as this recipe or Turkish shortbread cookies. If you bake these cookies until golden brown, you will get a burnt taste. If you did not make the cookies large, even if the baking time changes each time, it will not take longer than twenty minutes. Twenty minutes is not a very long time. Do not place the tray in the oven and go to another room and sit down. Look through the oven window every two or three minutes while you take care of other things in the kitchen. In this way, you can cook the cookies in a controlled manner.

Enjoy the recipe...

Enjoy your meal...