Sekerpare is the name for semolina cookies soaked in sweet syrup. It is melting in your mouth and satisfies your sweet tooth wonderfully.

Have you seen the other Turkish foods we shared here? Sweets with syrup have an important place in our cuisine. Although baklava is the most famous one around the world, flour halvah, semolina halva and semolina cake revani are equally popular in the country.
What Is Sekerpare?
Very similar to lots of other Turkish desserts, seker pare is a type of cookies made of semolina and soaked in a sweet syrup. Sekerpare means bit of sugar in Turkish. As the name implies, shekerpare will be the best solution for you if you have difficulty to satisfy your sweet tooth.
Ingredients
These are basically cookies made with a combination of flour and semolina. And they are already sweet and yummy as they are, even without syrup. On the other hand, you have to try them with syrup if you have a sweet tooth that is hard to satify.
The syrup made with sugar, water and lemon juice take these simple looking cookies to another level.
How To Make
The recipe has three folds: Making the syrup, baking the cookies and combining these two.
First, make the syrup.
Pour water and sugar in a pot. Heat them until it boils. Let it boil about 15 minutes until it reaches the right consistency.
Add lemon juice and take it from the heat. Put it aside and let it cool completely.
Pro Tip: Make sure the syrup is cold while the cookies are hot.
Second, make the cookies.

Combine butter, flour, semolina, sugar, an egg and baking powder until everything holds well and you have a non-sticky dough.

Pick about a tablespoon of dough and roll them into balls. Put them in a slightly greased baking sheet leaving enough space between each as they will rise when cooked.

Place hazelnuts on their top pressing gently.

Bake them in oven for 25 minutes or until golden.
Third, combine the cookies with the syrup.
Pour the syrup when the cookies are still hot. You can pour it with a ladle on each piece. Wait until the cookies absorb the water. You can serve it with black tea or ice cream.
Note: I make 50 pieces from these ingredients, but pour the syrup on 25 of them as I put the other half in refrigerator to make it another time. When I have any unexpected guests, I just prepare the syrup and pour it hot on the cold cookies to serve them tasty sekerpare. Don’t forget the rule for pouring syrup on cookies for skerpare. If the cookies are hot, the syrup must be cold or vice versa.

Other Turkish Desserts
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📖 Recipe
Sekerpare
Semolina cookies soaked in sweet syrup.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 50 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients
For its dough:
- 2 cups flour
- ½ cup semolina
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 125g butter
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- Hazelnuts
For its syrup:
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 and ½ cups water
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
- As we must let the syrup get cold before pouring it on sekerpare cookies, start with making the syrup first.
- Pour water and sugar in a pot. Heat them until it boils. Let it boil about 15 minutes until it reaches the right consistency.
- Add lemon juice and take it from the heat. Put it aside and start preparing the cookies.
- Combine butter, flour, semolina, sugar, an egg and baking powder. Knead them well.
- Preheat the oven at 180C.
- Pick walnut sized pieces from dough and roll them. Put them in an oiled baking pan leaving enough space between each as they will rise when cooked.
- Place hazelnuts on their top pressing gently. Cook them in oven for 25 minutes until golden.
- Pour the syrup when the cookies are still hot. You can pour it with a ladle on each piece. Wait until the cookies absorb the water.
- You can serve it with black tea.
Notes
These cookies freeze well without the syrup. So you can store half of the cookies in the freezer after they cool completely. When you want to turn them into sheqerpare dessert, thaw them first. Make the syrup, pour the hot syrup over cold cookies and let them absorb the syrup.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 91
- Sugar: 10.1 g
- Sodium: 2.6 mg
- Fat: 3 g
- Carbohydrates: 15.4 g
- Protein: 1.1 g
- Cholesterol: 9.1 mg
Mely says
I love those cookies! I saw them the first time at Angela food love blog and when they come out, they are so crunchy with the mix of the semolina, they soon became one of my favorites. This new version (to me) with the syrup is something I should try next time I bake them. Angela from the Food love blog uses almonds instead of Hazelnuts. I can't wait to try them with Hazelnuts.
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella says
These syrup cookies look so divine! 😀 I can see why they jumped to the top of your favourites list!
sophia says
I LOVE the use of semolina for that little gritty texture...AWESOME!
Natasha - 5 Star Foodie says
These look like such wonderful sweet treats! I love the whole hazelnuts on top!
jouhayna says
salam
thanks a lot for your answer, am going to do sekerpare soon
kisses
lk says
this look so good! i love the idea of the cold cookie with warm syrup. divine!
Reeni says
These are so unique with the syrup over the top. They look soft and sweet and incredibly yummy!
Erkin says
Zerrin, Şekerpare is one of the most popular deserts in Turkey, and it has a lot of incurable fans some of whom can eat about 1 kilos at a time.
I also like to eat a few after a light meal with a few glasses of Rakı. For those who like eating deserts after drinking, Şekerpare is a perfect recipe. Thank you..
jouhayna says
salam
thanks for sharing this recipe, i saw it in many blogs but your photos sound so delicious that I've decided to make these cookies
I wont just to ask about baking pouder: what do you mean by dessert spoon? a tspoon or tblspoon? If you can give me the baking pouder in gr, It'll be so good for me?
Thanks for your help
Nice day
jenn (Bread + Butter) says
My sweet tooth is agreeing with me that yes, we'd like to have a bunch of these to snack on.
Zerrin says
Oyster- These are not regular cookies, they are beyond that with that syrup they absorb. And everyone you serve will love them.
Gera- Thank you. This is definitely the best way to satisfy our sweet tooth.
Erica- Thank you. And they taste delicious, too:)
Jessie- I can eat these even when they are just cookies, but when they absorb the syrup, they get much more yummy! Simple and satisfying!
Jenn- A bunch of these may not be enough 🙂
Jouhayna- Happy to hear you loved sekerpare. In fact, dessert spoon is something between tspoon and tblspoon. We eat desserts with it. And it takes about 5g baking powder. Hope this is helpful for you and hope you love it when you try.
Erkin- I may be one of those fans, I can eat sekerpare every single day! As you say, some people crave for dessert after drinking, and I recommend them to have sekerpare. It goes very well at any time.
Erica says
Great blog entry as usual! They look and sound delicious.
Gera @ SweetsFoods says
This post is utterly for my sweet tooth, they look absolutely scrumptious 🙂
Ideal for tea time or coffee!
Cheers,
Gera
Jessie says
great cookies, I love how simple and easy they are to make
OysterCulture says
That these are going to be delicious I do not doubt, but they are so simple and elegant - I cannot wait to serve them. I love the glaze on top