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HARRA BI ISBAOU

MARKOOK BREAD DESSERT RECIPE

Captured by The Recipe Hunters in Lebanon

Kaak bi Halib Recipe, milk cookie recipe, Lebanon

Harra bi Isbaou (translated from Arabic to burnt finger) is a dessert made from stale markook or saj bread (Middle Eastern flat bread that is made without yeast and baked over saj ovens), which is broken up into pieces and cooked down in butter and flavored with cinnamon, vanilla, and sugar. We learned the recipe in a small village in the West Bekaa Valley of Lebanon from a mother named Lina Haddad who hosted us on Food Heritage Foundation's Food Trail. It is a dessert that children love and is quick and easy to make. The meal probably derives from a creative mom who had leftover bread and wanted to give her children a treat.

RECIPE

Prep time: 10 min.

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  1. Melt 50 g of butter in a medium sized pot over medium-high heat.

  2. Stir in 1.5 cups of sugar and 1 cup of water.

  3. Once the sugar has dissolved, mix in 1 tsp of cinnamon and 1 tsp of vanilla extract.

  4. Once the mix boils, rip apart stale markook bread into ear-sized pieces and mix them mix into the pot using a wooden spoon.

  5. Once the bread becomes soft and soaks up all of the syrupy liquid, the dessert is done.

Made with Love Tip:  Let the bread cool down or you’ll burn your finger :)

INGREDIENTS

  • 3 pieces of stale markook bread

  • 50 grams of butter (3 Tbsp)

  • 1 tsp cinnamon

  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

  • 1.5 cups sugar

  • 1 cup water

RECIPE BY PHOTOS

Harra Bi Isbau Recipe

Captured by The Recipe Hunters: Leila Elamine & Anthony Morano

Recorded by The Recipe Hunters:

Leila Elamine & Anthony Morano

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