Put the semolina flour in a bowl. Heat the milk skin or butter on a low flame and add to the bowl, mixing well. Add the chopped cashew nuts and ground mastic or almonds and ground cinnamon and cloves, mixing well again.
Heat the milk and, after taking it off the stove, add the liquor or brandy and the baking powder. Mix carefully as the contents will rise. Add to the semolina and knead the mixture.
Make up walnut-size balls of the mixture. Place them on wax paper on a baking tray and bake in a medium oven (1800C) for about an hour.
As soon as you remove them from the oven, coat each of the balls with the floral water and place them on a surface that has been covered with icing sugar. Sprinkle them with plenty of icing sugar. Keep the loukoumakia in a sealed container once they have properly cooled. This recipe should make about 80.
Ingredients:
1kg of semolina flour
300g of milk skin (from boiled milk) known as ‘tsipa’ in Cyprus or 200g of unsalted butter
200g of chopped cashew nuts or 200g of chopped roasted almonds (about 1 1/4 cup)
1/2 a tsp of ground mastic (to use as a filling with the cashew nuts) or 2 tsps of ground cinnamon and cloves (to use as filling with the almonds)
50ml (3 1/2 tbsps) of mastic liquor (for the cashew nuts) or brandy (for the almonds)
400ml (almost 1 2/3 cup) milk
2 tsps of baking powder
2/3 cup of floral water (hydrosol or herbal distillate)
1kg of icing sugar
