In the Arab World, the sweet pastry known as kahk represents an integral part of the Eid el-Fitr feast. Other pastries — such as ghorayiba and petit four — are also baked and consumed in large quantities, but it is the cookie-like kahk that has come to epitomize the post-Ramadan holiday.
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The iconic pasty is said to have been re-introduced in its contemporary form during Egypt’s Toulounid period in the 9th century. The association between kahk and the Eid el-Fitr holiday is attributable to Fatimid Caliph Al-Muezz li-Dein Illah, who commemorated the end of the fasting month by distributing kahk among his subjects in the newly founded City of Cairo in 969 AD.
In the millennium since, kahk has been traditionally made at home by mothers and wives to mark the first day of eid.
Ismailimail 