Kalburabasti or Kalburabasma Turkish Nut Cake

We will start with a delicacy, typical of Turkish festivals, and very consumed during the sacred month: the kalburabasti or hurma tatlisi (literally dessert of dates, because of their oblong shape).

It is a specialty of the Sivas region, in the heart of Turkey, baked or fried, and traditionally stuffed with nuts, then sprinkled with syrup. You will notice these characteristic little pimples, which are obtained by pressing the cake on a traditional Turkish sieve, but you can, like me, settle for a cheese grater. Kalbur means sieve, and basti means pressed.

To get this recipe, I searched long enough, I watched Turkish videos, read Turkish blogs so that I could offer an authentic recipe.

Prepare the kalburabasti dough

First of all, in a bowl, pour the butter, oil, yogurt, egg, semolina, salt, vanilla sugar, baking powder and finally the flour, little by little.

Then, mix everything in order to obtain a homogeneous paste, which does not stick to the hands and which holds well.

To form the kalburabasti, take a dough nut and equip yourself with a grater. You can also use a sieve or colander, the main thing is to get these little bumps on top of the cookie!

forming the dough

Place the dough nut on the grater and press well and flatten by hand, put a little nut in the center.

Gently roll the dough, you get a cookie in the shape of a date and with small bumps on top.

KALBURABASTI TATLISI dough preparation

Baking and cooking steps

Place on a baking sheet covered with baking paper and do the same with the rest of the dough.

For more delicious recipes you can try Turc Baklava

Once all the tatli have  formed, bake in an oven previously heated to 180 °, until the cookies are golden brown (at least 30 minutes).

Once cooked, they must be allowed to cool and the syrup prepared: in a saucepan, pour the water and the powdered sugar, put to cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the syrup boils.

After boiling, pour the lemon juice, lower the heat and cook in small broths for about 20 minutes.

Kalburabasti tatlisi baking steps

Kalburabasti syrop preparation

Place the cookies in a mold with little space between each, then pour the hot syrup over the cold cookies. Pour the syrup, using a ladle, little by little, over each cookie.

I do not pour all the syrup at once, I let it absorb a little and then I turn the cookies over so that they absorb the syrup well on all sides.

The main thing is that the cookies are well soaked. I don’t always use all the syrup, there may be some left over.

Leche Flan is one of our best dessert recipes that you will enjoy it.

Kalburabasti syrop addition

Finally, leave aside for a few hours so that the syrup is well absorbed then enjoy with a good glass of tea!