Sweets Without Eggs

The doctor sometimes forbids, for reasons of health, the eating of eggs or of anything made from them. Are we then to be deprived of delicious sweets? Not at all. Today we shall describe for you some kinds of pastry that are made without eggs and yet lose none of their deliciousness.

Hazelnut pastry: You must pound 250 grams of hazelnuts and almonds together (or hazelnuts alone), and keep pounding for a long while; then add 125 grams of light fresh butter and 125 grams of pounded sugar, and mix them well with a little flour, so that you can make of this mixture a dough and spread it out on the board. After that, cut this dough into small triangles and put them in the oven for about a quarter of an hour.

French qaraqish: You must buy from any European-style bakery 250 grams of ordinary bread dough, and put this dough on a board after dusting it with fine flour. After that, mix into it 250 grams of clarified butter, a quarter of a liter of milk, and 5 grams of salt; and from time to time as you knead it, sprinkle it so that it gains body. Then roll it into a long round shape only a finger's breadth across, and give it any circular shape you please — for instance, the shape of two circles like the European figure eight, 8. Then put these shapes in a hot oven until they take on a beautiful golden color.

European qaraqish: With 250 grams of flour mix 60 grams of very soft butter, ten tablespoons of long-boiled milk, half a packet of baking powder, and 5 grams of salt. After you have kneaded it well, roll this dough into a long round shape the breadth of the small finger of the hand (the little finger); then cut from this dough pieces five centimeters long, and put them in a hot oven until they take on a beautiful golden color.