flipChenes — Honey, Date and Fig Cakes for Hathor
Chenes — Honey, Date and Fig Cakes for Hathor
Why this dish? Hathor, goddess of love, music, and joy, is associated with the sistrum held by queens like Ahmose. Offering her honey and fruit cakes, sweet and fragrant, is a typical devotional gesture of the priestess-queens of the 18th Dynasty. These are "inspired by" offering deposits, not a reproduction of a rite.
Small soft emmer cakes bound with honey, stuffed with dates and figs, perfumed with cinnamon and golden sesame. Very sweet, melting, to offer and share.
When I shake the sistrum for Hathor, the lady of joy, I never come empty-handed. These little cakes I knead with flour and honey, fill with crushed dates and figs, and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. Place them on the altar before tasting, for the goddess loves sweetness as much as music. And if the child you love asks for one, give it: shared joy pleases Hathor.
- •Emmer flour — as needed (base)
- •Honey — generously (binder and sweetness)
- •Crushed dates and figs — a good portion (fruity filling)
- •Toasted sesame seeds — a handful (flavor and crunch)
- •Cinnamon (imported) — a pinch (spice)
Chenes — Honey, Date and Fig Cakes for Hathor
Small soft emmer cakes bound with honey, stuffed with dates and figs, perfumed with cinnamon and golden sesame. Very sweet, melting, to offer and share.
Why this dish? Hathor, goddess of love, music, and joy, is associated with the sistrum held by queens like Ahmose. Offering her honey and fruit cakes, sweet and fragrant, is a typical devotional gesture of the priestess-queens of the 18th Dynasty. These are "inspired by" offering deposits, not a reproduction of a rite.
When I shake the sistrum for Hathor, the lady of joy, I never come empty-handed. These little cakes I knead with flour and honey, fill with crushed dates and figs, and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. Place them on the altar before tasting, for the goddess loves sweetness as much as music. And if the child you love asks for one, give it: shared joy pleases Hathor.
Ingredients (period version)
- Emmer flour — as needed (base)
- Honey — generously (binder and sweetness)
- Crushed dates and figs — a good portion (fruity filling)
- Toasted sesame seeds — a handful (flavor and crunch)
- Cinnamon (imported) — a pinch (spice)
Ingredients
- Spelt flour — 250 g
- Honey — 120 g + a little for glazing
- Pitted dates — 100 g
- Dried figs — 80 g
- Sesame seeds — 3 tbsp
- Ground cinnamon — 1/2 tsp
- Oil (or a little clarified butter) — 3 tbsp
- Water — as needed to bind
Method
- Blend dates and figs into a thick paste for filling.
- Mix flour, cinnamon, honey, and oil; add a little water until a supple dough forms.
- Form balls, make a well, fill with fruit paste, seal.
- Roll cakes in sesame seeds.
- Bake at 180°C for 15-18 minutes, brush with honey upon leaving the oven and let cool slightly.
How it was made : Sweet food offerings (honey cakes, fruits, sesame) are attested by temple offering lists and recovered deposits. Cinnamon and cassia, imported via trade routes (mentioned in funerary contexts and the famous expedition to the Land of Punt under Hatshepsut), perfumed dishes and ointments.
The contemporary twist : Glaze with honey and sprinkle with edible dried flower petals, arranged in a pyramid on a low bowl "offering tray" style.
Ahmose · Charactorium
