Arabic Cardamom Shortbread (Gorayba)
"These cookies are made all over the Middle East. Each country and each household has their favourite recipe. The traditional shape is a horse shoe with the 2 ends pinched together and a nut is placed where they meet. I only do that if I am receiving guests or for a special occasion."
photo by oloschiavo
- Ready In:
- 40mins
- Ingredients:
- 6
- Yields:
-
50 cookies
- Serves:
- 50
ingredients
- 473.18 ml flour
- 9.85 14.79 ml orange flower water or 14.79 ml rose water (optional)
- 236.59 ml pure ghee
- 236.59 ml icing sugar
- 50 50 pine nuts or 50 pistachios
- 2.46 ml baking soda
directions
- Melt ghee in a saucepan on the stove.
- Add icing sugar to ghee and mix till sugar is completely dissolved.
- Remove from heat.
- Add cardamom and gradually add in the flour and baking soda.
- Mix well. dough should not stick to your hand.
- Add more flour if necessary.
- Roll 1 tsp of dough at a time into balls.
- Place onto an oven tray, flatten slightly.
- Place a nut of your choice in the middle of each cookie.
- Bake at 180°C for 10 minutes, or until tops are cream.
Questions & Replies
-
I've looked at this recipe on about 5 sites. The cookies are called Arabic cardamom cookies. So why is the cardamom optional (& is also left out of the ingredient lists on 4 of the 5 sites)? Several sites say "cardamom or orange water or rose water all optional." I'm confused. I want to make these for an Arabic presentation & want them to turn out right. Thank you.
Reviews
-
Lemoncurd, these cookies are beautiful. I made my own ghee for these, and was amazed at how simple it all was! Smooth and buttery with an exotic hint of cardamom, these will make a perfect addition to my Christmas cookie bags. Thanks for the recipe! -
The cookies were WONDERFUL!!!This is my childrens favorite Arabic cookie. It was so simple to make. THANX;) -
Fabulous, Fabulous, Fabulous! Used walnuts and even though I used the cardamom, I also added about 1/4 teaspoon orange blossom water. Thanks for sharing, Lemon! cg ;) -
These are my all time favorite, and I usually make mine with almond extract. The cardamom is a nice touch! I just love the rich, buttery texture that the ghee gives the cookie. Thanks!
-
DH said these are good. I made them for my FIL's dewaniya (male gathering) to have with Arabic coffee and strong tea. I actually used butter (without clarifying it), freshly ground cardamom for half the batch & the other half with cardamom and Lebanese rose water to loosen up the dough after putting a bit too much flour (I blame the recipe). I put blanched almond slivers on top of the cardamom half and the rest I dusted with icing sugar as they were still too dry to stick a nut into them. The additional flour didn't make them hard though, alhamdulillah (praise be to God). I baked them at 350F watching them carefully. I may make these again making sure to use the correct amount of flour.
