In pics: Making kahk, biscuits ahead of Eid al-Fitr in Luxor

CAIRO – 20 April 2022: Luxor Governorate, like the rest of the republic’s governorates, is overwhelmed with happiness and joy during the last days of the holy month of Ramadan, and ahead of Eid Al-Fitr (The feast of breaking the fast.)

Biscuits and kahk are among the famous patisserie eaten during Eid al-Fitr.

Days before the feast, shops start making kahk and biscuits instead of buying it ready from shops. With many families buy the biscuits ready from shops, while others prefer to enjoy the celebratory mood of the process making it at home.  

In this regard, Egypt Today visited some bakeries in Luxor to highlight the process of making Eid biscuits and khak.

Ashraf El-Fil, the owner of a bakery shop in Luxor, said that the forms of Eid patisseries are diverse, including “biscuits and ghorayeba with cherries and pineapple and sugar.”

Ashraf El-Fil added to “The Seventh Day”, that the prices of baked the small-sized savory appetizers “Petit four” range between 60 and 80 pounds, while sugar cookies range between 60 and 70 pounds, and the strange ones range from 60 to 70 pounds, in addition to some prices for cakes and ​​biscuits that reach 100 pounds per kilo.

Meanwhile, Mahmoud Abu Ammar Halawani and the owner of a bakery in Luxor said that the kahk is the most important and prominent type of savory during the celebration of the days of Eid al-Fitr.

Ammar also added that Eid khak was old and one form known to all, but with the development of time and the introduction of new types of sweets and others like: Ghorayeba, Nawaem, Petit Four, and various biscuits, as well as Qaraqish and other things.

Eid patisseries include several ingredients of flour, butter, ghee, French, raisins, coconut and ground sugar, and they are prepared through a machine equipped for that purpose and huge quantities come out in a few times to be displayed in the different shops for them in Luxor.

Chef Ismail Khalifa, who specializes in making of Eid Kahk in Luxor, says that the Egyptian people sanctify these annual customs in Eid al-Fitr, as the candy industry in the governorate is full of stars from chefs in large and small shops that offer the best types of sweets, cakes for Eid.

He stressed that the preparation of biscuits and Eid Kahk take place two weeks before the festival, by bringing all the raw materials of flour and sweets, and shop owners prepare innovative forms of displaying the products to attract the public.

Regarding the history of making Eid biscuits, Al-Tayeb Gharib, director of the Karnak temples, says that the method of making Eid sweets are found in pics at the Pharaohs on the walls of Thebes’ tombs included some types of frying in ghee or oil, and sometimes they stuffed Kahk with dried dates (Ajwa), or figs and decorated them with dried fruits such as buckthorn. and raisins, and I found cake discs retaining their shape, along with pieces of white cheese and a bottle of honey.

Al-Tayeb Gharib said that in the era of the Fatimid state, the Fatimid caliph used to allocate an amount of 20 thousand dinars for making Eid al-Fitr Kahks, and factories were devoted to making them starting in the middle of the month of Rajab, and filled the Sultan’s stores with it, while the caliph distributed them himself.