New Endeavours!: Eid Cookies!

It's that time of year again......Eid Cookie making! My fondest memories of spending family time come during this time of the year...using the Lunar Calendar of course. It comes near the end of the Holy month of Ramadan where all the women in my immediate family and my extended family get together in Oakville, Canada and make a MILLION Eid cookies together.

For those of you that don't know, the Holy month of Ramadan (Ramadan being the name of the month in the Lunar Calendar in Arabic) is when muslims all over the world fast from sunrise to sunset for an entire month! Fasting firstly from all food and drink, but more importantly, a large effort to be a good person, reflect on yourself, your life, your goals, your relationship with God, not lie or swear, and pray and pray and pray.

Now back to the cookie making....

So each year before the end of Ramadan we all gather at Nahla's house and have a "Kahk Convention" - Kahk is the name of one of the types of cookies that is made for Eid. It is my least favorite and now that I make cookies on my own, I don't have a picture below of it, because I didn't make it....lol. All the aunties and kids (me and my grown cousins being the "kids") all gather in Nahla's kitchen where she busts out her mother's old cookie recipes and so begins the process. Each mom/auntie knowing their role of which part of the cookie making their good at and each kid also knowing their role and how to follow Nahla's directions. This usually takes and entire day or evening and we're usually up all night laughing and talking and eating. It's amazing and has become a tradition that I want to continue with my own family, especially when we can't make it up to Canada for it.

And so this year, once again, I wasn't able to make it to Canada and did it on my own! I was lucky to have my mom in town to help me with the cookies and the girls and we also had the hubby and a friend come and join us. So here are the pics of the amazing cookies we made all day yesterday!

One thing I realized while writing captions to these photos is the importance of sharing! The reason why we make a MILLION cookies, is because it is also customary to share them with your friends, family, and neighbors! We have already set containers aside to share with some of friends and neighbors!

The completed table of Eid Cookies! The long sticks on the left are called Pitonsalee and they are for dipping in your tea in the morning. Also more of a biscuit taste but made with cumin seeds.