Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Chebakia
Flower-shaped fried dough drenched in orange-blossom honey and coated in sesame, the sweet of the Moroccan Ramadan table.
Moroccan · advanced · serves 12
prep 60 min · cook 30 min
~640 cal · 12g protein · 88g carbs · 29g fat · 6g fiber · 47g sugars · 6g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Chebakia is the quintessential sweet of Ramadan in Morocco, a fried pastry folded into an intricate rose or flower shape, drenched in honey, and coated in sesame seeds. Families make it in great batches before the holy month, filling the house with the scent of anise and orange blossom.
The dough is fragrant with cinnamon, anise, and orange-blossom water, cut and folded into its distinctive petalled shape, then deep-fried until golden. Still hot, it is plunged into warm honey scented with more orange blossom, where it drinks in the syrup, then rolled in toasted sesame. Sticky, crunchy, and floral, it is traditionally eaten with a bowl of harira soup to break the fast.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 12
4 cups flour
1 cup toasted sesame seeds, ground
1/2 cup almonds, toasted and finely ground
1 tbsp ground anise and cinnamon
a pinch threads, steeped in a little warm water
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup (for the dough)
1 egg
2 tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup
2 cups honey
1/2 cup sesame seeds, to coat
for frying oil, for frying
Instructions
1
Mix the flour, ground sesame, ground almonds, anise, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt, then work in the melted butter and oil until sandy. Add the egg, vinegar, steeped saffron, and orange blossom water and bring it together into a firm, smooth dough; rest 30 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
The vinegar is what makes chebakia shatter rather than bend, and the saffron gives the dough its warm golden colour. Work the dough only until it comes together; over-kneading makes it springy and impossible to roll thin.
2
Roll thin, cut into strips, and fold into the traditional rose or flower shape.
✎ Chef’s note
Folding the pastry into its flower shape takes practice; the more petals catch the honey, the better it drinks up the syrup.
3
Deep-fry the shapes until deep golden and crisp.
4
Plunge the hot pastries into warm honey scented with orange blossom, then roll in sesame seeds.
Moroccan Ramadan tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Fès-Meknès. Fès, Morocco's ancient culinary capital, cooks refined dishes, pigeon pastilla, slow tagines, and elaborate sweets, from a walled medina lived in without a break since the ninth century and home to al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 857 and reckoned the oldest continuously operating university in the world. Imperial tradition defines its table.
🗺️
Morocco. Moroccan cooking is a fragrant meeting of Berber, Arab, Andalusian, and sub-Saharan traditions, built on slow-cooked tagines, steamed couscous, and preserved lemons. Sweet-and-savory pairings, lamb with prunes, chicken with olives, and spice blends like ras el hanout define a table where bread is the universal utensil.
🌍
Africa. Much of what reads as timeless African cooking is younger than the Atlantic crossings. Maize, cassava, groundnut, chilli and tomato all arrived from the Americas after 1500 and pushed older crops aside; millet, sorghum, teff, yam and fonio are the ones that were already here, and the map still shows the join.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Morocco
Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemon & OlivesSlow-braised chicken perfumed with saffron and ginger, brightened by salty preserved lemon and green olives.
Chicken BastillaA sweet-savory pie of spiced shredded chicken and almonds in crackling pastry, dusted with sugar and cinnamon.
Kefta Mkaouara (Meatball Tagine)Spiced meatballs simmered in a cumin-scented tomato sauce with eggs cracked on top, a bubbling tagine eaten with bread.
Browse all Morocco recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Deep pot for frying.
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Morocco meal
Chicken BastillaDinner
Moroccan Mint TeaDrink
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Frequently asked questions
What is Chebakia?
Flower-shaped fried dough drenched in orange-blossom honey and coated in sesame, the sweet of the Moroccan Ramadan table.
Where does Chebakia come from?
Chebakia is a Moroccan dish from Fès-Meknès, Morocco.
Can Chebakia be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Chebakia recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Chebakia safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Chebakia take to make?
About 90 minutes total (60 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking), serving 12.
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