Chebakia Bouchnikha as a special pastry for the month of Ramadan

Chebakia, also known as Halwa Chebakia or mkharka, is a Moroccan sesame cookie coated with honey. It is often associated with the Ramadan fast.

Moroccans prepare this by shaping a rolled-out dough into a flower, deep-frying it, and dipping it in hot honey. It’s also often flavored with orange flower water. The Chebakia is traditionally served when Moroccans break their Ramadan fast alongside a bowl of harira soup. It’s also common on special occasions, such as birth celebrations, weddings…

For many Moroccans, chebakia is the first thing they eat to break their fast as the sun sets. First because it is delicious and also because they believe that by breaking their fast with something very sweet, they can expand their stomachs and eat more as the night progresses.

There are slight variations to the chebakia recipe in different parts of Morocco and other countries like Algeria. In the eastern part of Morocco this sweet is known as Griouech, while in Fez and Rabat, the sweet is referred to as mkharka. In eastern Morocco, you can also find a similar sweet known as bouchnikha.

Griouech (the Algerian version of chebakia) has a slightly different shape: a square with inner slits, and doesn’t use some of the ingredients needed for the chebakia recipe, such as cinnamon, aniseed, saffron, and also it doesn’t incorporate ground sesame seeds into the dough.

Bouchnikha is a chebakia variation popular in the southwest of Morocco. This version uses fewer ingredients and is a bit harder than the traditional chebakia and it is considered as a special pastry for the month of Ramadan .