I am really excited to bring you this recipe for Ghoriba Bahla or “silly strangers,” friends. These Moroccan cookies are truly delicious. not too sweet, and perfect with a cup of tea or coffee. I think you will really enjoy them!
Other cookie recipes that are great with coffee are my Toasted Almond Cookie Dumplings, raspberry shortbread sandwich cookies, and caramel walnut shortbread.
For ease of browsing, here are all of my cookie recipes. Thanks so much for visiting!
What Are Ghoriba Bahla?
Ghoriba is the Arabic word for cookie.
It’s a generic term that can mean any of a number of different types of Moroccan cookies.
Ghoriba is actually the word for “stranger,” but I have searched and searched and cannot find a source telling me why cookies would be called strangers.
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At any rate, the bahla part of ghoriba bahla means “silly,” and this refers to the craze of cracks on the tops of the cookies. No cracks? Not bahla.
Since my cookies do have cracks, they are ghoriba bahla, or silly strangers. Let’s make some, because they are absolutely delectable!
I made these ghoriba bahla as part of a virtual progressive dinner of Middle Eastern and Moroccan foods. Here are the other recipes:
Progressive Eats Middle Eastern/Moroccan Menu
Cocktail
- Pomegranate Green Tea Mojito from The Redhead Baker
Appetizer
- Hummus Tehina from Food Hunters Guide to Cuisine
Main Dishes
- Lamb Chelo Kebab from Spice Roots
- Prawns, Feta, and Tomatoes over Couscous from The Wimpy Vegetarian
Bread
- Homemade Pita Bread from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
Side Dish
- Jeweled Persian-Style Rice (Gluten-Free) from The Heritage Cook
Desserts
- >Pomegranate Posset from Mother Would Know
- Moroccan Shortbread Cookies with Cracked Tops (Ghoriba Bahla) you’re here
How to Make Moroccan Cookies
This ghoriba bahla recipe contains ground almonds and toasted sesame seeds.
It’s not too sweet–just about 1/2 teaspoon of sugar is included in each cookie. Approximately 2/3 cup plus 1 Tablespoon of sugar divided among 40 cookies. Nice!
The recipe is very slightly adapted from this Moroccan shortbread recipe on The Spruce. The only changes I made were to up the salt a smidge (shocking) and to use some sesame oil for a portion of the oil called for in the recipe.
That’s a totally optional step, but if you really love the flavor of sesame, you’ll want to give it a shot.
Techniques for Making Moroccan Cookies
In making these ghoriba, there were a couple of new-to-me techniques I thought I’d share with you really quickly.
- The first is blanching and frying almonds.
To be honest, I bought slivered blanched almonds, so all I had to do was fry them.
Easy enough, but make sure you remove the nuts from the oil before you think they’re done, because they will continue to darken, even once removed, until the oil on their surface cools down enough to stop cooking them.
Take it from me, because I learned the hard way.
- The second technique is all about the mixing and shaping of the dough.
The dough is very crumbly and seems too dry since it doesn’t clump together unless you squeeze it, but it’s that texture that encourages the cracks on top.
Once you have enough flour incorporated in the dough to give you that dry-ish texture, you mix it with the paddle attachment for a good ten minutes.
I’m guessing that this helps to develop some gluten, which is limited since the oil pretty much coats most of the flour.
The only water available to activate gluten is what’s in the butter, so my guess is that the extended beating of the dough lends the dough strength.
‘m telling you guys, ghoriba bahla are very sandy, crumbly cookies, and I want to eat them all the time.
They’re even crumblier than the Scottish shortbread I’m used to eating. It is seriously good stuff, and I want to dunk these guys into coffee or tea or just shove them in my face, one after the other.
How To Shape Your Ghoriba
As to the shaping of the cookies, you:
- form/press them into balls (you can’t really roll them or they crumble)
- flatten them between your palms so the edges are thinner than the middles.
Traditionally, there’s a special pan you are supposed to bake them on so they end up with concave backs.
I think that might also encourage even more cracking, but shaping them by hand and baking them on plain old parchment-lined sheets works just fine.
Here’s what the dough should look like once you’ve shaped it into individual cookies.
And now you know a bit about what you’re getting into. Let me reiterate: totally worth it. Let’s make this ghoriba bahla recipe and then proceed to eat them all. Or maybe share. Maybe.
Ghoriba Bahla Recipe
And now you know what you’re getting into, so let’s make some ghoriba bahla.
A Note About Measurements
Don't let its small price and small size fool you. The Escali Primo is an accurate and easy-to-use food scale that I have used for years. It's easy to store, easy to use, has a tare function, and easily switches between grams and ounces/pounds for accurate measurements.
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Ghoriba Bahla Recipe | Moroccan “Silly” Shortbread Cookies for #ProgressiveEats
Equipment
Ingredients
- 40 grams sesame seeds
- 40 grams blanched slivered almonds
- For Frying almonds: about 1/2 cup of neutral vegetable oil
- 125 grams granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla sugar or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 125 grams unsalted butter softened
- 97 grams neutral vegetable oil
- 28 grams sesame oil (not toasted) or, for a lighter sesame flavor, use a total of 125 grams neutral oil
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 500 grams approximately–I used 450 grams all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
Instructions
- Set a rack in the top third of the oven and preheat to 400F.
- Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment and set aside.
- Put the sesame seeds in a dry skillet and heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally and then constantly as the sesame seeds begin to take on a bit of color. Toast the sesame seeds to a light golden brown. Spread out on a paper towel to cool.
- Wipe out the skillet in case any sesame seeds are stuck to the bottom (just to be safe) and fill with about 1/4" vegetable oil. Allow the oil to get hot. Test by dropping in a piece of slivered almond. It should begin to gently bubble in 1-2 seconds.
- Add the rest of the almonds and fry, stirring constantly, until a very pale golden color. The nuts will continue to take on color for an additional couple of minutes, so be sure to remove them from the oil before you think they’re ready.
- Pour the nuts into a strainer set over a heat-safe bowl and then spread them out to cool completely.
- Coarsely grind the nuts in a small food processor or mini chopper. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the granulated sugar, vanilla sugar (or extra granulated sugar plus 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract), butter, oils, and salt.
- Beat until reasonably well combined (it may look a bit lumpy. That’s okay).
- Mix in the sesame seeds and ground almonds.
- Whisk together about half the flour and baking powder, and then add that to the mixer. Mix on low speed until you have a sticky dough.
- Add enough of the remaining flour to make a stiff, crumbly dough that holds together when you squeeze it. I ended up using 450 grams of the total of 500 grams of flour. You may need a bit more or less depending on your flour and the humidity.
- Once the dough is the right consistency (and even if it doesn’t crack, it will be delicious, so don’t get upset), weigh it and divide the weight by 40. I ended up needed 22 3/4 grams of dough per cookie, so some I scaled at 22 grams and some at 23 grams and it all worked out just fine.
- Form each piece of dough into a fairly smooth ball (you won’t be able to roll it, because it will crumble, so just form it with your hands). Flatten each ball of dough between your palms so the edges are thinner than the centers. Try to make them as round as you can, but it’s not the end of the world if they’re lopsided.
- Place each shaped cookie on the prepared sheets–20 per sheet.
- Bake one tray at a time for 7 minutes. Then rotate the pan 180 degrees, reduce the heat to 375F and bake an additional 3-6 minutes (depending on your oven) until very pale golden around the edges. With all the seed and nut oils, they’ll take on color quickly, so keep an eye on them.
- Remove the sheet from the oven and carefully transfer to a cooling rack. The cookies will be soft, but they will crisp and crunch up as they cool. By the time they are completely cool, they’ll be perfect!
- Bake the second sheet (remember to turn the oven back up to 400 first). The second batch might take slightly less time to bake than the first batch. Mine did.
- Try not to eat all of them. Enjoy!
Did You Make Any Changes?
Notes
TECHNIQUES
The recipe is very slightly adapted from this Moroccan shortbread recipe on The Spruce. The only changes I made were to up the salt a smidge (shocking) and to use some sesame oil for a portion of the oil called for in the recipe. That’s a totally optional step, but if you really love the flavor of sesame, you’ll want to give it a shot.TECHNIQUES FOR MAKING MOROCCAN COOKIES
In making these ghoriba, there were a couple of new-to-me techniques I thought I’d share with you really quickly.- The first is blanching and frying almonds. To be honest, I bought slivered blanched almonds, so all I had to do was fry them. Easy enough, but make sure you remove the nuts from the oil before you think they’re done, because they will continue to darken, even once removed, until the oil on their surface cools down enough to stop cooking them. Take it from me, because I learned the hard way.
- The second technique is all about the mixing and shaping of the dough.The dough is very crumbly and seems too dry since it doesn’t clump together unless you squeeze it, but it’s that texture that encourages the cracks on top.Once you have enough flour incorporated in the dough to give you that dry-ish texture, you mix it with the paddle attachment for a good ten minutes. I’m guessing that this helps to develop some gluten, which is limited since the oil pretty much coats most of the flour. The only water available to activate gluten is what’s in the butter, so my guess is that the extended beating of the dough lends the dough strength.‘m telling you guys, ghoriba bahla are very sandy, crumbly cookies, and I want to eat them all the time. They’re even crumblier than the Scottish shortbread I’m used to eating. It is seriously good stuff, and I want to dunk these guys into coffee or tea or just shove them in my face, one after the other.
HOW TO SHAPE YOUR GHORIBA
As to the shaping of the cookies, you:- form/press them into balls (you can’t really roll them or they crumble)
- flatten them between your palms so the edges are thinner than the middles.
Nutrition
And that is that. Enjoy this ghoriba bahla recipe–it might just become your new favorite shortbread cookie recipe. I think it’s mine!
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I would love these adorable cookies even if they didn’t have such a great name:) But the combination of the name and the not-too-sweet nuttiness could send me right over the edge. So glad to know that I’m not the only person who burns nuts – your tip is an essential one for me to remember. I should start repeating it right now.
I even messed up *after* I read to take them out early, so seriously–take them out WAY earlier than you think you should! You’re going to love these, Laura!
I am going to try these soooon. I sort of want to eat one off my screen right now!! I wouldn’t have been able to send them off anywhere :))
I am made of stone! Also, I kept some and have just eaten 5 in a row!
I can’t wait to make these!! they sound yummy!
And such a cool technique for making them! Enjoy, Theresa!
To heck with giving any of these beauties away – I’m hoarding them all just for me!! 😉 Another perfect treat from the amazing Jenni! I love the idea of a cookie that is a cross between a shortbread and a crinkle. Oh yeah, I’m making these ASAP. They are the creme de la creme for #ProgressiveEats!
Thanks, Jane! I figure they shouldn’t be too hard to make gf, although I’m sure the amount will differ because of how gf flour soaks up liquid. Worth trying, for sure, because they are wonderful!
So darn delicious!! Thanks!
Yay! So glad I was able to share some with you! xo
Your “silly strangers” look fabulous!! I hope you saved me a few!!!
Thanks, Liz!