Description
Melt-in-your-mouth Egyptian butter cookies! Simple bite-sized eggless cookies, made of 3 ingredients: ghee, powdered sugar, and flour.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 cup/195 g ghee (highly clarified butter like this kind)
- 1/2 cup/ 63.77 g powdered sugar, sifted, and more for later
- scant 1/8 tsp/ 0.5 g baking powder
- 2 cups/ 240 g all-purpose flour, sifted
- Handful slivered almonds (optional)
Instructions
- Place ghee in a large mixing bowl. Using a hand-held electric mixer like this one, mix on low until ghee is whipped.
- Add powdered sugar, then mix again using hand mixer. Start mixer on low and then increase speed as needed to medium until the ghee-sugar mixture is whipped (should look smooth and fluffy.)
- Set the mixer aside. Add baking powder, then add 1 cup flour. Knead with your hand to work flour in, then add the remaining 1 cup flour. Knead again until flour is well incorporated into a super soft dough.
- Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes so that the dough will firm up a bit. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (see tip #2). And prepare a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- When ready, remove dough from fridge. Take small portions of dough (heaping 1/2 tablespoons) and form into small walnut-sized balls. Ever so lightly press the top (do not flatten). Arrange on prepared baking sheet, about 2 to 3 inches or so apart.
- Lightly press a slivered almond on each or some of the cookies.
- Bake in heated oven for 12 to 15 minutes or so (cookies should firm up and gain a bit of color on the bottom. But should remain pretty light in color on top.)
- Remove from oven. Do NOT touch cookies until cooled (they will fall apart). Sprinkle powdered sugar on top. Enjoy!
Notes
- Cook's Tip #1: In case you're wonder if you could just use unsalted butter in place of ghee (clarified butter), the answer is no. Ghee is the key ingredient in ghoraybeh butter cookies. Because ghee lacks the water content of regular butter, it produces far softer, melt-in-your mouth cookies. If you use butter instead, you will end up with crispy butter cookies. Frankly, completely different cookies than ghoryebah. Similarly, there is no substitute for the powdered sugar.
- Cook's Tip #2: If you have a super strong oven, adjust the heat. Maybe try 325 degrees F. The bottom of the cookies should only gain little color.
- Cook's Tip #3: Some Egyptians add a pinch of ground cardamom, you can do that if you want to add more interest and flavor.
- Storage: Store in tight-lid tin. If stored properly in a cooler area, they will keep for a couple of weeks.
- Visit The Mediterranean Dish store
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Egyptian