Ramadan and Apple Rose Pastries

It was almost a year ago when Lubna at Yummy Food asked me to write a guest blogpost for her special Ramadan series "Joy from Fasting and Feasting."

Ramadan is an auspicious month for Muslims all over the world. Muslims join together to fast and increase spirituality, love, camaraderie, and unity during this special month. From dawn, fasters abstain from eating or drinking till the cry of the athan (call to prayer) at dusk reaches their ears, either from a mosque or from our preset phone alarms. The meal that we eat when breaking our fast is called "iftar." Joy from Fasting and Feasting is a clever and well suited title to celebrate the special food traditions at iftar time of Muslims all over the world.

Last year, I shared a recipe for these beautiful apple rose pastries. These apple rose pastries took the internet by storm a year ago and were begging to be tried. The pastries are worthy of the fame and taste as gorgeous as they look. In fact, these pastries are not exactly a traditional recipe for my family to have during Ramadan. In fact, I shared this recipe as a dessert to be made on Eid ul Fitr. Eid is special, three day celebration held immediately after the month of Ramadan ends. This holiday is celebrated world wide and is one of the only two Muslim holidays in the whole year. Such a special holiday calls for a special dessert. You can find the recipe for these delicious treats on Lubna's blog here. 

Another Ramadan tradition I would like to share with you is the tradition of sending food platters out to neighbors. This is one that was inspired from a dear friend of mine years ago. Ever since then, my family and I send out food platters with traditional iftar foods and a little note explaining the holiday to all of our neighbors. Here is a post I wrote back in 2011 detailing the platter we made and the not attached with it. I hope you can also start this tradition with your family, and if you don't celebrate Ramadan, I hope you've learned something new from this post.

Now, before I sign out, I'm excited to announce that I will be guest posting at the Yummy Food blog again this year! Look forward to an exciting iftar recipe this year. An early Ramadan Kareem to all my readers!