Chef Zohra
Fekkas (فقاص)
The Moroccan biscuit that waits well: anise-scented logs baked once, cooled, sliced thin, then baked again until crisp enough for mint tea and generous enough for guests.
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Montécaos (مونتيكاو)
Created by
Pale, friable Moroccan montécaos, the Andalusi shortbread carried west: oil, flour, sugar, and one cinnamon mark, pulled from the oven before color steals the melt.
Pastries & Cookies
Moroccan
Holiday
Celebration
Budget Friendly
20 min
Active Time
18 min cook•38 min total
Yield24 cookies
The whole cookie depends on stopping in time. Montécaos should leave the oven pale, almost shy, with only the cinnamon mark on top telling you where your hand has been. Let them brown and they lose the thing we came for: that sandy, melting crumble that gives way before your teeth have much work to do.
This is holiday pastry with poor ingredients and proud technique. Flour, oil, sugar, a little salt, no decoration except cinnamon. The dough must feel like damp sand that agrees to hold together when you press it. Too much oil and it spreads. Too much flour and it turns hard. La balance est dans les yeux, the scale is in the eyes, but I give you measures so your first tray has a good chance.
Bake them low, watch the bottoms, not the tops. The bottom should be barely blond, the top still pale. Then leave them alone until they cool, because warm montécaos break if you breathe too strongly near them. Put them on a plate with mint tea and make more than you counted. Une table, c'est une porte qu'on laisse ouverte, a table is a door you leave open.
Montécaos belong to the Andalusi and Sephardic-Moroccan pastry family that moved across the western Mediterranean after the expulsions from Iberia in the late 15th century, especially into cities such as Tetouan, Fez, Rabat-Salé, and Oujda's eastern tables. The name is related to Spanish mantecado, from manteca, though Moroccan Muslim and Jewish households often settled on oil versions that could sit comfortably at more tables. The exact path from Iberian mantecado to North African montécaos is argued in families more than proven in archives, and that uncertainty is part of des cuisines marocaines.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
plain flour
Quantity
500g
plus 1 to 2 tbsp if needed
icing sugar
Quantity
150g
sifted
neutral oil, such as sunflower or grapeseed
Quantity
220ml
baking powder
Quantity
1 tsp
fine sea salt
Quantity
1/2 tsp
vanilla sugar or vanilla extract (optional)
Quantity
1 tsp vanilla sugar or 1/2 tsp extract
ground cinnamon
Quantity
2 tsp
for marking the tops
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| plain flourplus 1 to 2 tbsp if needed | 500g |
| icing sugarsifted | 150g |
| neutral oil, such as sunflower or grapeseed | 220ml |
| baking powder | 1 tsp |
| fine sea salt | 1/2 tsp |
| vanilla sugar or vanilla extract (optional) | 1 tsp vanilla sugar or 1/2 tsp extract |
| ground cinnamonfor marking the tops | 2 tsp |
Equipment Needed
- •Two heavy baking sheets
- •Parchment paper
- •Wide mixing bowl
Instructions
- 1
Heat the oven
Heat the oven to 160°C. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Montécaos need gentle heat, because the top must stay pale while the cookie sets all the way through.
- 2
Mix the dry
Sift the flour, icing sugar, baking powder, and salt into a wide bowl. If you're using vanilla sugar, add it now. Stir with your hand so the sugar disappears evenly into the flour.
- 3
Work in oil
Pour in most of the oil and rub it through the flour with your fingertips, then add the rest little by little. The dough should look like damp sand and hold together when squeezed in your palm. This is the deciding point: the dough is not kneaded like bread, it is pressed together so the cookie stays friable.
If it crumbles dry after firm squeezing, add oil 1 tsp at a time. If it feels greasy or slumps, dust in 1 tbsp flour and wait a minute before judging again. - 4
Shape the domes
Take walnut-sized pieces, about 28 to 30g each, and press them firmly between your palms before rolling. Shape into small domes with a flat base, not balls, and set them 3cm apart on the trays. A firm press now keeps them from falling apart later.
- 5
Mark with cinnamon
Pinch a little cinnamon between your fingers and touch the top of each dome, or use the tip of a small spoon to leave one dark circle. Do not bury the cookie under spice. The mark should be a sign, not a blanket.
- 6
Bake them pale
Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the tray once if your oven has hot corners. Look at the bottoms, not the tops. They should be barely blond underneath, with pale tops and fine little cracks near the cinnamon.
- 7
Cool untouched
Leave the cookies on the tray for 15 minutes before moving them. Warm montécaos are fragile, and patience here is not politeness, it is structure. Once cool, lift them gently to a plate and serve with mint tea.
Chef Tips
- •Use a neutral oil that smells clean. Old oil makes a tired cookie, and no cinnamon will rescue it.
- •Pull them before they look finished. A browned montécaos may still be pleasant, but it won't have the pale melt this pastry asks for.
- •Icing sugar gives the finest crumb. Granulated sugar works only if you grind it first, or you'll feel the grit under your teeth.
- •Some families add orange blossom water or sesame to nearby ghriba doughs. For montécaos, keep the old oil, flour, sugar, and cinnamon shape unless your own family handed you otherwise.
Advance Preparation
- •The dough can rest, covered, for 30 minutes at room temperature before shaping if your kitchen is cool.
- •Bake the cookies up to 5 days ahead and keep them in an airtight tin, layered gently. They travel well, which is part of their kindness.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 35g)
Calories
175 calories
Total Fat
9 g
Saturated Fat
1 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
8 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
70 mg
Total Carbohydrates
23 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
6 g
Protein
2 g
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