Cookie Crumbs and Reading the Future

My infatuation with coffee started as a very young child in a small town at the foot of Tomorr mountain in Albania. Poliçan (I have spoken of it before here) was a very small town, bitterly cold in winters, cool and bright in summers, with people from different areas of Albania who were brought there by the Party to work in the gun factory. My father worked there as a mechanical engineer. Vlora was the place that had my parents’ heart though, and even though my family enjoyed lasting friendships with many other families, like Lot’s wife they always looked back.

Winters were long and my paternal grandmother, Nënë Nxhiko, always spent them with us. She was a strong woman of whom I have very few memories, unfortunately. One of her favorite times of the day was coffee time; once in the morning, and once in late afternoon. As was customary, my mother made the coffee and she always served it with a little butter cookie placed on the small saucer.



Nënë Nxhiko always gave me the cookie, and, after I finished my happy munching, she would pour some of the dark liquid in the saucer for me to drink. I slurped the coffee with the intensity of a seasoned coffee addict, always getting a got-milk mustache, always dripping coffee on my shirt, smiling at my mother who did not want to laugh but who could not help herself.

Nënë Nxhiko liked to read the future in the patterns the coffee grounds made when the cup was placed upside down on the saucer. She was often joined by the other old women in the neighborhood. I always sat close to hear their predictions, wondering how they could see anything in those grounds. Number seven meant in seven days? A trail of liquid which had opened a thin line among the grounds meant unexpected travel in the near future?



Once I was a teenager and once my sisters had left the house, as the youngest woman of the household, I was supposed to make the coffee, but my mother disregarded traditions like that which she considered ridiculous and patriarchal. She never asked me to make coffee for guests. She was the one who would make it and I would serve it on a silver tray, drawing smiles from everyone once they saw the foam riding the edge of the cup. “Good girl,” they thought, “She’ll make a fine bride.”

My secret was out the first time I returned from the US after being away for two years. A family friend came over for an impromptu visit. He was a very traditional man who valued the customs much more than my parents did. Mom was not in the house, and as he sat down I asked:

“What would you like to drink? Raki? Juice? Water? Coffee?”

I should have skipped the last offering because coffee is what he wanted. I chuckled inside and said:

“Xhaxhi Luli [name changed], mom will be back in just a minute and she’ll make your coffee. I never learned how to make it alla Turka.”

Xhaxhi Luli proceeded to lecture me on the value of knowing how to make coffee, the honor that a good wife brings upon the house, and how one day I would have to make coffee for my in-laws.

The two of us, my mom and I, had a good laugh afterward. Not because we don’t honor good traditions, but because some are funny and because our family is different.

When I asked her this summer to teach me how to make Turkish coffee, she smiled and said:

“Are you ashamed of Xhaxhi Luli?”
“No, I just want to read my fortune,” I responded winking.

Good laugh resumed.

On my way back from Albania this past August I smuggled a Xhezve, the little pan where my parents make their coffee. I know how to make it now, and I can bake the cookies that go with it. The only thing I have yet to figure out is how to read the future. Perhaps on my next trip.



Butter and Cardamom Coffee Cookies

Ingredients:

14 tablespoons of butter at room temperature (200 g, or 1 stick + 6 tablespoons)
1 cup of powdered sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla

3 cups of all purpose, non-bleached flour
½ teaspoon of baking soda
1 ½ teaspoon of ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon of salt

1 egg yolk + 2 teaspoons of water for brushing
Walnut halves for decorating
¼ cup of powdered sugar for dusting

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 F

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cardamom, and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl mix the butter and sugar with a hand mixer on low speed until the sugar has been incorporated and the mixture is light and creamy. Add the eggs and the vanilla and mix until combined.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and thoroughly mix using a large spoon and your hands, forming a soft dough. Refrigerate the dough for about 15 minutes.

Take 1/3 of the dough and roll it into a ¼ inch thick sheet. Using a cookie cutter (1-2 inch in diameter), cut the individual cookies, brush the tops with the egg and water mixture, place a walnut half on top and set them on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, 1 inch apart. Repeat these steps with the rest of the dough.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden. Let the cookies cool down, dust with powdered sugar, and enjoy with a warm cup of coffee or as a delicious snack.



Turkish Coffee (as made in Albania)

¾ cup of water
1 teaspoon of sugar
2 teaspoons of finely ground espresso beans

Equipment:
Xhezve (pictured below)

Preparation:

Place the water in the xhezve along with the sugar. Place the xhezve on medium high heat. Stir to melt the sugar.

Once the sugar has melted, add the coffee, stir to combine and let it on the heat until just before it boils. You will see the volume raise and bubbles on the side, but don’t let the water boil otherwise the foam will go away.

Pour in small espresso cups and serve with small butter cookies.

Note: The recipe above is for a bittersweet cup. You can adjust the amount of sugar to your taste.

Ju bëftë mirë!
E.

[This is a Xhezve - an itty bitty pan. This one is not the most traditional-looking one, but it makes good coffee]