{"warnings":{"main":{"warnings":"Subscribe to the mediawiki-api-announce mailing list at for notice of API deprecations and breaking changes. Use [[Special:ApiFeatureUsage]] to see usage of deprecated features by your application."},"parse":{"warnings":"\"prop=sections\" has been deprecated. Please use \"prop=tocdata\" instead."}},"parse":{"title":"Kleicha","pageid":14714894,"revid":1376700602,"redirects":[],"text":"
Middle Eastern cookie
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Kleicha (ܟܠܫ̮ܵܐ، كليجة، کادە، کلوچه، کولیچە)
Iraqi kleicha
TypeCookie
Place of origin\"\" Iraq (Iraq)[1]
Region or stateIraq, Saudi Arabia, Najd
Created bySumerians
Main ingredientsDough, nuts, dates, and sesame seeds
VariationsSaudi Kleicha, Koloocheh
  •  \"Wikimedia Media: Kleicha (ܟܠܫ̮ܵܐ، كليجة، کادە، کلوچه، کولیچە)
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Kleicha (Persian: کلوچه, romanized: koluche; North Mesopotamian Arabic: كليچة, romanized: klēči, Mesopotamian Arabic: كليچة, romanized: kilēča; Najdi Arabic: كليجة, romanized: k(i)lēja; Syriac: ܟܠܫ̮ܵܐ, romanized: kleča;[2] Kurmanji Kurdish: kade; Sorani Kurdish: کادە, romanized: kāda; Turkish: kiliçe) is a type of Middle Eastern cookie.\n

Kleicha comes in several traditional shapes and fillings. The most popular are the ones filled with dates (kleichat tamur). There are also sweet discs (khfefiyyat), as well as half moons filled with nuts, sugar and/or desiccated coconut (kleichat joz). They are usually flavoured with cardamom and sometimes rose water, and glazed with egg wash, which may sometimes be scented and coloured with saffron.[3] Unlike ma'amoul, kleicha typically does not contain semolina.[4]\n

Muslims make kleicha for Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha and also for their celebrations, weddings or special ceremonies and they are stuffed with many different fillings like dates, pistachios, walnuts, coconuts, dried figs, sesame seeds or Turkish delight. While Iraqi Jews make it for Hanukkah.[5]\n

Assyrians bake kilecheh on Eeda Gura, Easter, and Eeda Sura, Christmas, on which they are usually stuffed with dates and served with tea.[6]\n

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Etymology

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From Middle Persian (kwlʾck' /kulāčag/, lit. 'small, round bun').[7] Historically, kleicha may be traced back to the ancient Sumerian ‘qullupu'.[1]\n

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Origin

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The origins of kleicha can be traced back to ancient Mesopotamia, where Sumerians would prepare this cookie to celebrate the New Year and Ishtar, one of the more prominent goddesses in ancient Sumerian mythology. Spring represented rebirth and renewal, which coincided with Ishtar's power of fertility. To honor the goddess, ancient Sumerians would bake qullupu, the kleicha's ancestor. These cookies were shaped to resemble a full or crescent moon that symbolized the arrival of Spring, which was often marked by the first full moon in late March or early April.[1][8]\n

A recipe for kleija cookies can be found in a 13-Century Arabic cookbook by Ibn al-Adim.[9]\n

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Varieties

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Syria

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Spiced variations of kleija with different fillings are made in some Syrian cities, like Deir ez-Zor and Al-Hasakah.[10][11][12]\n

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Saudi Arabia

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Klēja from Qassim
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Klēja being made in Qassim
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Although the name is somewhat similar, Klēja in the Najd region of Saudi Arabia (Qassim and Haʼil provinces) differs in taste, shape and ingredients from Iraqi kleicha. It is made with yeasted dough that has been enriched with spices, such as cardamom and cinnamon, and filled with a mixture of either date, sugar, or honey molasses and spices, typically cardamom, but also black dried lime, cinnamon, and ginger.[13]\n

Kleija was featured in the 2024 edition of \"Breads of the Creative Cities\", a project by UNESCO's Creative Cities Network.[14][15]\n

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Nasrallah, Nawal. \"The Iraqi Cookie, Kleicha, and the Search for Identity\".\n
    2. \n
  2. ^ Rink, Friedrich Theodor; Vater, Johann Severin (1802). Arabisches Sprisches und Chaldäisches Lesebuch: #b das arabische grösstentheils nach bisher ungedruckten Stücken mit Verweisungen auf die Grammatik und mit erklärenden Wortregistern herausgegeben (in German). Siegfried Lebrecht Crusius. p. 35.\n
    3. \n
  3. ^ \"Delights from the Garden of Eden: An Iraqi Cookbook\". Archived from the original on 2008-05-13. Retrieved 2007-12-15.\n
    4. \n
  4. ^ \"How to make sweet date cookies from Iraq\". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 29 September 2025.\n
    5. \n
  5. ^ \"THE HIRSHON IRAQI (SUMERIAN) DATE AND WALNUT KLEICHA COOKIES\". The Food Dictator.\n
    6. \n
  6. ^ \"Assyrian Voice Library - Kileche\". Retrieved 2013-06-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)\n
    7. \n
  7. ^ Mackenzie, D. N. (2014). A Concise Pahlavi Dictionary. p. 52. doi:10.4324/9780203462515. ISBN 9781136613968.\n
    8. \n
  8. ^ Lozano, Gabriella. \"Kleicha: History and Culture\".\n
    9. \n
  9. ^ Nasrallah, Nawal (31 December 2007). Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens: Ibn Sayyār al-Warrāq's Tenth-Century Baghdadi Cookbook. BRILL. p. 563. ISBN 978-90-474-2305-8. Retrieved 20 September 2025.\n
    10. \n
  10. ^ \"ديرية، لأ حسكاوية... حروب المطبخ السوري من الكليجة للمليحي\" [\"Deriyah, No...Haskawiyya\"... The wars of Syrian cuisine from the Kalija to the Malihi]. Raseef22 (in Arabic). 12 November 2022. Retrieved 25 December 2025.\n
    11. \n
  11. ^ \"الكليجة.. حلوى الديرية في العيد\" [Kleija...Deiri sweets in Eid]. Enab Baladi (in Arabic). 5 June 2025. Retrieved 25 December 2025.\n
    12. \n
  12. ^ \"\"الكليجة\".. حلوى العيد وموروث الأجيال بالحسكة\" [\"Kleija\"... Eid sweets and the heritage of generations in Al-Hasakah]. Enab Baladi (in Arabic). 7 April 2024. Retrieved 25 December 2025.\n
    13. \n
  13. ^ \"Kleja\".\n
    14. \n
  14. ^ \"Saudi Arabia's 3 traditional breads among UNESCO's Breads of Creative Cities\". The Times of India. 27 July 2024. Retrieved 31 August 2025.\n
    15. \n
  15. ^ \"Saudi Arabia's Culinary Heritage Shines: Traditional Breads Join UNESCO's Breads of the Creative Cities\". Hospitality Lexis. 26 July 2024. Retrieved 31 August 2025.\n
    16. \n
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