June Hollisian, one of our Armenian Kitchen Facebook readers wrote:
“My Grandmother made a cookie she called “shakarshee”. Her recipe was 2 c fat melted 2 1/2 c sugar and 3 1/2 or more c flour. She didn’t use a traditional measuring cup and her fat was the old time rendered. I tried to make the cookie using butter and my effort tasted yummy but were like an American sugar cookie in texture. Grandma’s was soft and melted in your mouth. She was from Dickranagert. Any suggestions?”
June came to the right place. First, Doug and I are both part Dickranagertsi (but you already know that). Second, we’ve been on an Armenian sugar cookie kick lately. We’d just posted 2 Kourabia cookie recipes and the Sharkar Loqum cookie recipe for Linda Kevorkian. (Photo is of our Kourabia cookies.) I emailed June my mother-in-law, Sylvia Kalajian’s recipe for Shakarshee, which she said sounded like her grandmother’s. Then, out of the blue, my cousin Doreen Keil emailed me a Shakarshee cookie recipe from Nartouhe Hourdajian, my brother-in-law’s late mother. (Are you following this?)
My head was spinning from Armenian sugar cookie overload!
The two ladies recipes are quite different, yet delicious. Here are both recipes. Try each, and email robyn@TheArmenianKitchen.com (or post a comment) to let us know which is to your liking.
Nartouhe Hourdajian’s Shakarshee 1 lb sweet butter 4 egg yolks 14 oz (out of a 16 oz package) confectioner’s sugar 5 ½ cups flour (or to consistency)
Using a mixer:
Keep butter at room temperature Cream well in mixer until butter is soft and fluffy Cream egg yolks into butter Add gradually confectioner’s sugar until all are thoroughly blended in mixer
By hand: Add flour little at a time until you feel consistency will hold the cookie shape Dough should be soft, not hard Shape dough into small balls or crescent shapes
Bake:
Bake in pre-heated oven at 250 degrees F – 10 to 15 minutes – until pale, not brown Sprinkle remaining confectioner’s sugar on top of the cooled cookies ****************************** Sylvia Kalajian’s Shakarshee 1 lb. sweet butter, melted and cooled 2 cups super-fine sugar 1 tsp. vanilla 3 cups flour ********************* Confectioner’s (powdered) sugar for coating Using a mixer, beat butter, sugar and vanilla together until smooth. Add flour and mix by hand until a soft dough is formed. Pinch pieces of dough the size of walnuts and roll with floured hands to prevent sticking. Place on an ungreased baking sheet about 1 inch apart. Flatten slightly. Bake in a preheated 300°F oven about 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack. When cookies have cooled, sprinkle (lightly or heavily) with confectioner’s sugar.