a straightforward traditional Arabic recipe for shortbread-like cookies. The cardamom, which is somewhat pricey but well worth it, is what gives food its great flavor. Although you can certainly include the almonds if you desire, I actually like them without.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 35 mins |
| Servings: | 24 |
| Yield: | 2 dozen cookies |
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 12 almonds, split (Optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
- In a medium bowl, stir together the butter and sugar until smooth. Stir in flour and cardamom until well blended. Pinch off tablespoonfuls of dough, and roll into a thin rope. Join the ends together in a circle, and place on a greased cookie sheet. Place almond halves on the joints where the circles come together.
- Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven. The cookies should remain white, but may turn golden at the very edge.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 130 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 13 g |
| Cholesterol | 20 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Protein | 1 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Sodium | 55 mg |
| Sugars | 5 g |
| Fat | 8 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
These cookies turned out great! I put in 1/2 teaspoon of home ground cardamom, and it was the perfect amount. I will definitely make these again.
these bad boys are awesome. Peppered shortbread with perfume smell
So delicious! Added 2tbs brown sugar and 1 tsp vanilla. Rolled out and used a very small cookie cutter. Superb!
This is a great, basic recipe. I’ve used it a few time already – sometimes just the way it’s written, and sometimes with my own tweaks. I usually just make balls that I flatten with a glass before baking. I prefer more cardamom, and sometimes I add about 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Even then, this is not an overly sweet cookie. It comes out light and crispy, not heavy or dense. A very delicious butter cookie and a nicely versatile recipe.
Delicious!
My Egyptian husband loved it, but definitely double the cardamom!
This is a lovely cookie recipe. I did not use the almonds on each cookie. Some of them I left plain and a few others I dressed up with turbinado sugar. The recipe made approximately 60 cookies. I rolled them into balls and flattened them. The flavour is amazing. I baked them for 6-8 minutes. I guess mine were smaller. The next time I may add more cardamom. This will be a great Thanksgiving and Christmas addition. Thank you ladyheather06.
DELICIOUS! I love cardamom and I love butter cookies so this is the perfect match for me. In my second batch, I pre-toasted the almonds and that made them much more crunchy and yummy in the cookies. The only funny think is that my Egyptian husband says these are nothing like “actual” ghoraiybah. Oh well, I suppose it could be a regional difference. Whatever it is, I love it!
Excellent cookie, exactly what I was looking for! My kids love them too, and they kept well for a week in a closed container.
These are excellent. I added 1/8 C brown sugar, some vanilla and use 1/2 T of cardamom, and only needed to cook mine 15 minutes, and they are sooo tasty! yum yum.
I followed the recipe, grinding my own cardamom and leaving off the almonds. This isn’t a sweet cookie, but it’s great with tea or coffee – crispy, light, and nicely spiced. A cookie press makes for a very pretty presentation. Next time I’ll add some rosewater or orange blossom water.
Followed the recipe exactly and these were WONDERFUL! Nice and crisp, light, and melt in your mouth. Great while still a bit warm from the oven. Mmmmm… Would be wonderful dunked in coffee or milk too!
The traditional way of making ghoraybah is by adding a few drops of Arak (lebanese spirit). It gives it such a distinct flavor.
I was short on time but desperately wanted to try this, so I made a double batch and treated it like my favorite shortbread recipe–I pressed the dough into a 15″ jelly roll pan lined with foil, baked for 35 min. For the double batch I used a heaping tablespoon (yes, TABLEspoon) of ground cardamom. (I did not add brown sugar or vanilla as others have suggested, just upped the spice. It doesn’t need it, really!) It turned out very well, though I think I may add even more cardamom next time!
These were delicious. I added 1 heaping teaspoon as suggested in other reviews, but I didn’t find it was enough when tasting the uncooked batter, so I added more. I sorta dropped the bottle in!!! I got some out, but all in all, I probably had the approximate amout of 1 tablespoon and they were perfect. I do NOT think they need any extra sugar (as suggested), they are plenty sweet as is. I rolled out the dough and used a cookie cutter. They came out nice after 15 mins of baking, but they were probably thinner than in the original recipe (yield was of 24 and I got 37). I didn’t add any almonds. I also don’t think it is necessary to grease the cookie tray. They have tons of butter already. I lined mine with parchement paper and when I took it out of the oven, the paper was dreanched with oil. I will definately make these again.
It was weaker on the cardomom taste then what i wanted and i added 4 times the cardomom. It was also very crumbly but that could be due to my extra cardomom added in.
I loved these cookies. I used a little more cardamom and made them in a standard cookie shape with a whole almond pressed in the center. It has a wonderful exotic flavor, and it’s just perfect for a snack with a cup of tea.
Per reviews, I doubled the cardamom, added 1 tsp vanilla & 1 Tbsp brown sugar. Taste like cardamom shortbread.
Love these! They’re a big hit at our house come Christmas time. They have a very nice delicate flavor– worth the effort of baking!
These were a hit at my sister’s wedding. Its a simple cookie to make, but very good flavor.
This isn’t a recipe that will appeal to all taste buds because the cookies are more flavored than sweet, but we sure like them. As the other reviewers have mentioned, I do think the cookies benefit from a little vanilla extract, brown sugar and salt, but the cardamom is key. If you’re using the packaged variety, you’ll probably want to triple the amount, but using the actual cardamom pods makes a huge difference and really gives these cookies their flavor. I’m the first to admit you can’t buy the pods everywhere (and if you do, they are on the pricey side), but if you have them, use them! (To extract cardamom: lightly brown pods in a pan over high heat – but don’t overdo them! – remove cardamom seed from shells and crush using a mortar and pestle. For the leftover pods, I occasionally add them to my tea like the Lebanese do.) Also, this is one of few cookie recipes that turns out better using the old fashioned bowl & spatula method rather than the mixer. Finally, make sure your butter is softened (place in microwave for 25 seconds) to ensure a good dough.