Ghraybeh are soft, crumbly shortbread cookies with a powdery outside that melts in your mouth. They take just 3 ingredients: ghee, powdered sugar and flour.
Before You Start
- Use ghee: it gives ghraybeh its unmistakable flavor and signature texture, a soft powdery outside with a snap inside. Butter and vegetable ghee swaps are covered in the ingredients.
- Keep the dough cold: chill it for at least 45 minutes. The dough is high in fat, so it softens quickly in warm weather or in your hands.
- Watch the bake: every oven is different, so look for a slightly golden hue on the bottoms. The tops must stay unchanged, not even a smidge golden.
A Quick Note from Janelle
Ghraybeh (غريبة) is a Levantine shortbread cookie baked right across Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Jordan. This is the Lebanese way my mom taught me and no one can ever stop at one. You'll also see it spelled ghraibeh or ghoraybeh depending on dialect.
Flavor profile: ghraybeh is delicately sweet with its unique flavor of ghee. The outside is soft, powdery and melts on your tongue. The texture is incredibly delicate in the most magical way possible. The inside is a distinctive light crunch.
The last time I was baking these I felt like I was missing out (I'm sans gluten). I set out to make my own gluten-free ghraybeh and I wish I hadn't, because now I'm hooked and can't stop eating them (I'll share that recipe next). They might even be better than the original, there, I said it!
Baking for a Lebanese sweets platter? Serve these beside my Lebanese anise kaak cookies. My maamoul with dates are another favorite for the platter.
Ingredients, Swaps and Comparisons
You only need 3 ingredients for the cookie itself. The full list is in the recipe card below.
Ghee (samneh in Arabic) is the traditional fat and the star here. It creates the iconic flavor, texture and nothing else I tested comes close. I compared ghraybeh made with three different fats:
- Ghee: the original. Unbeatable flavor with a soft powdery outside and a snap inside.
- Unsalted butter: swap it in using equal amounts. Butter bakes quicker, so the baking time is about 1 minute less and the cookies change color faster. They lack the crumbliness that ghee gives and taste like regular butter rather than ghee. It makes a decent cookie, just not ghraybeh.
- Vegetable ghee: the texture is very similar to ghee, so this is how to make plant-based ghraybeh. The flavor is lost though, it tastes like a sugary butter cookie. When I do bake this version I add crushed pistachio for added oomph - I've discussed the measurements 4 paragraphs down.
Powdered sugar (icing sugar) sweetens the dough and keeps it light. Check the label, as some brands have added ingredients. You want pure sugar only.
All-purpose flour (plain flour) makes up the bulk of the dough. Go easy when you combine it as covered in the tips below.
Ghraybeh can be left plain or topped with a nut, usually a pistachio, a few pine nuts or an almond.
For pistachio throughout, mix 30g (¼ cup) crushed pistachios into the dough with the flour. Do note the dough is a little drier but still works. I've got photos below of these both baked and unbaked.
For flavor variations, add any of these after whipping the ghee and sugar: 1 teaspoon of orange blossom water, rose water or both combined, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon of mastic powder or 1 teaspoon of arak. Use only 1 teaspoon of any flavoring per batch.
What I Use to Make This Recipe
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Making ghraybeh is easy, but it can quickly become the opposite. Read "Before You Start" and "Janelle's Tips" first, then here are the major steps.
- Cream the ghee first, then add the powdered sugar, until the mixture is almost white.
- Combine with the flour until a crumbly dough forms. Bring it together and then chill it.
- Roll into 20 to 21g balls and flatten slightly into disks with no cracks.
- Bake until the bottoms just turn golden and the tops stay pale.
The above photo shows unbaked ghraybeh with pistachio within the dough. I like to make this version when using vegetable ghee for a flavor boost, but these can be made with regular ghee too.
Janelle's Tips and Troubleshooting
- Weigh your ingredients: weights are listed first for consistent results and cups are included too. To remember the recipe by volume, it's a 1:1:2.5 ratio: 1 cup ghee, 1 cup powdered sugar and 2½ cups flour.
- Don't knead the dough: this keeps the gluten from activating. Combine with your fingers or a mixer until just combined. The dough looks crumbly at first but presses together easily.
- Scoop first: use a spoon to scoop the dough before measuring and rolling into individual balls. It keeps the dough out of your "warm" hands for longer.
- Roll without cracks: make sure there are no cracks in each ball, then flatten it slightly into a disk. This will help the cookies bake without cracks.
- Hard cookies? Ghraybeh turns hard when it has been overbaked, when extra flour has been added to the dough or when butter has been used instead of ghee. Weigh the flour, pull the cookies while the tops are still pale and use ghee. Easy!
- Cheat! If the cookies bake with cracks, let them rest for at least 10 minutes. Then gently smear the outer layer with your finger to fill the gaps. It's like they never existed! Though there's nothing wrong with cracks, it's aesthetics only.
Did you make this? I'd love to know! Leave me a comment below with a ★★★★★ star rating or tag @plantbasedfolk on social media.
Recipe
Ghraybeh (Lebanese Shortbread Cookies)
Ingredients
- 230 g ghee at room temperature
- 150 g powdered sugar icing sugar, pure
- 340 g all-purpose flour plain flour
- Pistachios pine nuts or almonds, for topping (optional) see notes below for adding nuts into cookies
Instructions
- Whip the ghee until it has lightened in color and becomes creamy, about 2½ minutes.
- Add the powdered sugar and whip until it has lightened further and is almost white, about 2½ minutes. If you are adding any flavorings, mix them in now.
- Add the flour and lightly combine until a crumbly dough forms. You may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Make a dough ball in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes.
- Roll the dough into 20 to 21g balls, then flatten slightly into disks with no cracks. Place on a lined baking pan, leaving a gap between each to allow for expansion.
- Gently press one nut or several nuts on top of each cookie, if using.
- Bake in a preheated conventional oven at 160°C (320°F) for 17 minutes. The tops need to remain unchanged in color and the bottoms need to have just started turning golden.
- Rest the cookies for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely to room temperature. See notes below.
Video
Notes
- Ghee is the traditional fat. For unsalted butter, use equal amounts and bake 1 minute less, as butter browns faster and gives a less crumbly snap, or until desired coloring is achieved.
- For a plant-based version, use vegetable ghee in equal amounts. The texture is very similar but the flavor changes.
- Flavor variations, added after whipping (creaming) the ghee and sugar: 1 teaspoon orange blossom water, rose water or both combined, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon mastic powder or 1 teaspoon arak. Use only 1 teaspoon of any flavoring per batch.
- Keep the dough cold. If it softens while you work, return it to the fridge.
- Do not knead. Combine just until a crumbly dough forms that presses together.
- For cooling - ghraybeh will come out of the oven extremely soft and then harden as they cool, the exterior is best not touched until cooled as it is very powdery.
- If the cookies crack while baking, rest them for at least 10 minutes, then smooth the cracks gently with your finger.
- Storage: keep in an airtight container in the pantry for up to 2 weeks.
Nutrition
N.B., nutrition info is an estimate based on an online nutrition calculator. This will vary based on the specific ingredients you use.
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