Bousou La Tmssou
November 24th, 2010
Bousou La Tmssou (Algerian cookies), the dough is almost similar to Ma’amoul Abiad, but the cookies are dipped in orange blossom water after baking them, then coated with powdered sugar, the cookies are delicate and that’s why they are called Bousou La Tmssou which means “kiss but don’t touch”.
My aunt lived in Algeria for a while and she gave me the recipe. But for best results, I asked Algerian friend about them (“food” blogging is a great way to make friends from all over the world, this lady contacted me last year and we are still writing to each other, she is so sweet and wonderful). I asked her about the cookies and she was kind enough to send me the recipe from an old book. The only difference between my aunt’s recipe and the book is the ghee, my aunt adds ghee without melting it but the book said that the ghee should be melted. I followed the book, and found that melting ghee is much better.
I made these cookies for Eid Al-Adha.
Let’s make Bousou La Tmssou:
1, 2. In a bowl, combine flour and powdered sugar.
3. Add melted ghee to the dry ingredients.
4. Mix all the ingredients with your hands until combined and a dough is formed.
5. Divide the dough into pieces, each piece equals to 4 grams.
6, 7, 8. Take the piece of dough and roll into a ball.
9, 10, 11, 12. Use your thumb and index to form the balls into a shape similar to ice cubes.
13, 14. Place cookies on ungreased baking sheet.
15, 16. Bake in preheated oven at 212 °F (100 °C) (I preheated the oven just for 5 minutes, and after these 5 minutes I put the baking sheet in the oven), bake for 22 – 24 minutes or until the bottom becomes light golden in color. Remove from the oven and keep on baking sheet and allow to cool for 15 – 20 minutes.
17. After 15 – 20 minutes, dip the cookie in orange blossom water and make sure that all sides are dipped in the blossom water. Be quick, cookies should not stay for long time in the orange blossom water, just dip the cookies for one or two seconds and immediately remove them.
18. Immediately transfer the cookie into a bag filled with powdered sugar, and with your hands cover the cookie with powdered sugar, all sides must be coated with powdered sugar.
19. Transfer the cookie into a plate.
20. Repeat with all the pieces. Do the steps as explained, dip the cookie in orange blossom water then cover with powdered sugar then transfer into a plate, then repeat with the second piece, don’t try to do all the cookies at the same time, be patient and work one by one.
21. Keep the cookies at room temperature for 3 – 4 hours, then store in airtight container in the fridge. Before serving, remove cookies from fridge and keep at room temperature for about 30 minutes then serve, and it is not a problem if you serve them directly from fridge.
Bousou La Tmssou
From: Algerian Recipe / Servings: 60 Cookies
PDF Text Only / Print With Images
| 210 g all purpose flour
30 g powdered sugar 100 g ghee, melted and cooled 1/3 cup orange blossom water, for dipping 160 g powdered sugar, for coating |
In a bowl, combine flour and powdered sugar.
Add melted ghee to the dry ingredients. Mix all the ingredients with your hands until combined and a dough is formed. Divide the dough into pieces, each piece equals to 4 grams. Take the piece of dough and roll into a ball. Use your thumb and index to form the balls into a shape similar to ice cubes. Place cookies on ungreased baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven at 212 °F (100 °C) (I preheated the oven just for 5 minutes, and after these 5 minutes I put the baking sheet in the oven), bake for 22 – 24 minutes or until the bottom becomes light golden in color. Remove from the oven and keep on baking sheet and allow to cool for 15 – 20 minutes. After 15 – 20 minutes, dip the cookie in orange blossom water and make sure that all side are dipped in the blossom water. Be quick, cookies should not stay for long time in the orange blossom water, just dip the cookies for one or two seconds and immediately remove them. Immediately transfer the cookie into a bag filled with powdered sugar, and with your hands cover the cookie with powdered sugar, all sides must be coated with powdered sugar. Transfer the cookie into a plate. Repeat with all the pieces. Do the steps as explained, dip the cookie in orange blossom water then cover with powdered sugar then transfer into a plate, then repeat with the second piece, don’t try to do all the cookies at the same time, be patient and work one by one. Keep the cookies at room temperature for 3 – 4 hours, then store in airtight container in the fridge. Before serving, remove cookies from fridge and keep at room temperature for about 30 minutes then serve, and it is not a problem if you serve them directly from fridge. |
Notes and Tips
You should work in a cool place.
It is really important to use good quality ghee, I used a mixture of two brands, and here is the photo of the brands Ghee Brands.
I used ungreased aluminum baking sheet, and baked the cookies in an electric oven.
Be careful when baking the cookies because they might get burned easily.
When you are cooling the cookies on the baking sheet for 15 – 20 minutes, test one or two cookies and if you find that they might stick to the baking sheet, there is no need to remove them from the baking sheet but move them from their positions, and be very careful because they are delicate.
Do not dip hot cookies in orange blossom water, make sure that the cookies are cold before dipping them.
I didn’t use all the 1/3 cup of orange blossom water.
Sounds absolutely delicious and I love the name – “kiss but don’t touch” I also am very enthusiastic about dipping them in orange blossom water – sounds amazing.
These cookies look so festive and sound lovely.
Beautiful pictures…thank you for sharing this.
Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Cheers.
I absolutely adore the description that you’ve given..kiss but dont touch These do look like snow balls and melt in the mouth kind. The best however is that you have used ghee :) Thanks for the recipe!
they are so cute!!!! hehe (^_^)
What wonderful explanatory photos–so helpful! Your site makes me miss the Middle East!
Yummy!!! It reminds me of ghraybe minus orange blossom water and confectioners sugar. Thank you for sharing ^_^
These sound wonderful. I have a recipe for cookies that are very similar to this, except instead of dipping in rose water and covering in icing sugar they just have an almond placed on top. They are delicious, and I’m sure this is too!
These look so delicate and pretty! Would be perfect for christmas :)
Thank you also for the step by step instructions.
What a lovely name! We had almost similar cookies but we didn’t coat them with powdered sugar, it is called Suji Cookies..Yummy and amazing pix dear…
that is an awesome dessert! new to me.. you have a lovely blog here….
These cookies look melt in your mouth delicious. Lovely step by step.
oh these look great!
oh love these little beauties need to get me some orange blossom water
miammm!!!!!!
so delicate and so alluring! loved the recipe dimah!
Love the name of the cookies! And also like how it only needs 5 ingredients. :D
Those cute balls cookies look wonderful. I bet the orange blossom water adds a lot of flavor!
These cookies look delicious!
These look absolutely fascinating and yet with simple, every day ingredients-thankyou for the recipe! :D
this looks so good, i always loved this cookies but never thought to cook at home, tx for sharing this..
Dimah, hayati, what can I say?? you’ve done it again. can I ask a technical question, as I don’t live in the middle east, the ghee I have available here is not the best, and it puts me of cooking with ghee. However, I have access to French butter which is a bit similar to you know zebda, the organic type, that you make brown butter from? Would that do? cause the ghee here makes everythign tastes, yucky.
Beautiful cookies! I’m sure that they taste as good as they look.
These look great! Thanks for the recipe; I really want to try them
Looks like melt in mouth kind, wonderful presentation.
They look like our kourabiethes. I would love to try those.
loved the stepwise pics,looks so beautiful and very tempting
These look cute, addictive n melt in mouth kinds ..superb!
I just adore the translations of the names for all of your cookies, this one in particular! They look lovely.
new to me..looks so perfect and yummy!!
What a beautiful cookie. It reminds me a little bit of wedding cookies. Delicate and so pretty.
Hi,
I am an Algerian blogger and I love your Algerian sweets, we do usually make them in a losange shape but I like yours, and you are right, they are better with melted ghee..Bravo
XXXX
Dimah,
Cookies looks delicious. I love the pictorials. Nice presentation too.
this looks so lovely..i have this bookmark already thanks for sharing this.
delicious we make similar cookies
I love what the name of these cookies means! Except they must be touched in order to be eaten…and I bet they are heavenly with the addition of orange flower water!
These are just beautiful cookies and they sound delicious. The orange blossom water must give them such a nice flavor. Thank you for sharing them. I am looking forward to trying them.
You are so right; blogging is such a great way to meet people and learn foods from different cultures.
Beautiful pictures,
Btw, Happy Thanksgiving!
Dimah – these are so delicate – I must try them – enchanted by dipping them in orange blossom water. They are so alluring – I shall kiss and most certainly touch.
I am big fan of you and your recipes…
These sound so good! I love the name- “kiss but don’t touch.” What a lovely treat. :)
Dimah, again thank you for this lovely recipe. I’m copying down. Hope you’re having a wonderful day.
Cheers, Kristy
Wow these cookies look so amazing! I love the way they are covered in sugar powder. So indulging :)
Great sweets! They must be very tasty and they remind me of a Greek dessert.
Magda
OH WOW these look absolutely amazing and delicately made to perfection!! Great job as always :)
These are amazing… Can’t believe the labor behind them…. Can’t believe all the preparation. Thanks for sharing. I feel like I can smell it from my kitchen.
Mmm, these sound a lot like Mexican tea cookies, except with different flavoring. I haven’t made those in so long, but they are definitely tasty little morsels.
Amazing!!! They look so cute and delicate…Just love them :)
with every recipe I want more and more to be close to you so I can try them all. They look and sound so good. I’m sure your family is so proud to have you and have great cookies almost every day hihihi
with so many great recipe is so hard to decide which one I should make first
thank you for taking the time to share them with us
What lovely little cookies! They’d go well with a wonderful cup of tea.
Cheers,
Rosa
Cute sweet snowballs:))Exquisitly looking, Dimah, and lovely shots, too! Thank you for the detailed instructions, it facilitates the process!
I’m going to use my homemade ghee (I’m making it for about 3 years already); I don’t know if it’s OK comparing to high standards, but I will try:)
It’s so nice to see your recipe for one of the cookies in the previous photos. They look delicious and like a lot of hard work that is worth it. Thank you for the award and for thinking of my:)
These look and sound delicious! I love orange blossoms, they have such a unique and refreshing taste, I will have to give this recipe a try! Thanks for sharing :)
helo Dimah This is so tempting … not fair in front of the screen!!!
Pierre
They look amazing. What a lovely name, “kiss but don’t touch”.
Never tried such cookies before but they look like melt-in-the-mouth :D
great recipe! i’ll kiss and eat them! i know orange blossom water is unique but is exotic here. i looked it up but what exactly is it? is there another dipping solution to replace it?
wow, they look fantastic! i love how meticulous you are in making them. they’re a labor of love!
Adorable and tempting sweets! I love their name! lovely pics, as usual :-)
Hi Dimah, I posted your award in my blog. Thanks again!
Hi
an award for you…
http://traditional-indian-cooking.blogspot.com/p/awards.html
like the bowl and presentation looks royal :)
Dimah, these cookies look so tasty and so cute…love the idea of dipping in orange blossom water…yummie!
Lovely recipe and I loved the name too :-)
lovely cookies…
we have something similar in Malaysia.. (could be Middle Eastern influence 100s of years ago)~ its called Ma’mor but with peanut filling…
What elegant, fragrant little bites! I want some of these cookies too now :D
*kisses* HH
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I used Lurpak ghee, did you try to search for it?
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thoma: Thank you so much! Orange Blossom Water is the most important part in these cookies, but if you can’t find it so i suggest rose water, it is not the same and the taste is different but can be a substitute, but if you search for orange blossom water that will be much better.
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Lovely dish:)
EID Mubarak (belated)! You made a fabulous spread of sweets, amazing!!! These cookies sound delightful!
Your photos are wonderful, and this recipe is so easy and looks delicious.
The explanation and the step by step procedure are so nice. Love to try it. I have been following your blog for two months. I am not getting your blog updates in my dashboard. Can you help me?
Look wonderful!
You have lovely blog.Beautiful recipes and great photos:)
What can i substitute the orange blossom water with? I couldn’t find it in my local asian market, so i was wondering can i use something else like rose water?
Fahmida: traditionally it is prepared with orange blossom water, you can use rose water but the taste will be completely different. Try to look for “orange blossom water” in a Turkish store.
Okay thank you
Fahmida: you’re welcome.
These were wonderful! Such an incredible light texture and flavor.