Iraq
Photo: Faisal1904, CC BY-SA 4.0, croppedKleicha
كليجة
/kleːtʃa/KLAY-chah
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- Taste
- Sweet
- Made with
- Wheat & flourNuts & seeds
History
Kleicha are small cookies of a dough flavoured with cardamom, filled with dates, walnuts or sweet coconut, and baked. The date version is the most common, often pressed into a decorative wooden mould or shaped as a roll or crescent. Iraq has been famous for date palms since ancient times, and Iraqis often call kleicha their national cookie. Families bake large batches before the Eid holidays and serve them with tea to visitors. Similar date cookies are made in the Gulf and the Levant, but the cardamom-scented Iraqi kleicha is especially associated with Iraqi homes, including those of Christians at Easter.
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