Ghoriba Bahla
Abuja, Nigeria · View all recipes
Overview
Ghoriba bahla is a Moroccan shortbread, crumbly and cracked across the top, made with toasted sesame, fried almonds and a great deal of fat. It is eaten with Libyan tea, Maghrebi mint tea and Arabic coffee, and versions of it are made across Egypt, Morocco and Libya. Ghoriba is simply the Arabic word for cookie, and it names a whole family rather than one biscuit. What identifies this one is the cracks. Bahla loosely translates as silly, or silly stranger, and the name refers to the fissures that open across the surface as the cookie bakes. One Moroccan guide is quoted rendering it as stupid cookies, which gives a fair sense of the affection in the name. Two fats and two nuts do the work. Butter and neutral oil together, with a little sesame oil, give a texture that neither alone produces, and the sesame is toasted while the almonds are fried, which are different treatments producing different results. The dough is deliberately crumbly and cannot be rolled: each cookie is formed by hand into a ball and pressed flat between the palms so the edges are thinner than the middle. Traditionally a special pan gives them concave backs and encourages more cracking.
AFN Heritage Note
Ghoriba is the Arabic word for cookie and names a family of Maghrebi biscuits. Ghoriba bahla is the Moroccan version, taking its name from the cracks that open across its surface, and it is eaten across Morocco, Egypt and Libya.
Ingredients
Dietary tags are provided by contributors as a guide, not verified by AFN, and they depend on the products you buy. If you have a serious allergy, check every ingredient yourself. Cooking, allergies and your own judgement
Directions
- 1
Set a rack in the top third of the oven and preheat to 200°C. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment.
- 2
Toast the sesame seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring, until light golden brown. Spread on paper towel to cool.
- 3
Wipe out the skillet and fill it with about 5mm of vegetable oil. Heat it until a piece of slivered almond bubbles gently within a second or two.
- 4
Fry the almonds, stirring constantly, until a very pale golden colour. Take them out before you think they are ready, since they keep colouring afterwards.
- 5
Pour into a strainer set over a heatproof bowl, then spread out to cool completely.
- 6
Coarsely grind the cooled nuts in a small food processor and set aside.
- 7
In a stand mixer, combine the sugar, vanilla sugar, butter, both oils and the salt. Beat until reasonably combined; it may look lumpy, which is fine.
- 8
Mix in the sesame seeds and ground almonds.
- 9
Whisk about half the flour with the baking powder and add to the mixer. Mix on low until you have a sticky dough.
- 10
Add enough of the remaining flour to make a stiff, crumbly dough that holds together when squeezed. Around 450 g of the 500 g is typical, depending on your flour and the humidity.
- 11
Weigh the dough and divide by 40 to get the weight per cookie, roughly 22 to 23 g each.
- 12
Form each piece into a ball by hand. It cannot be rolled, so shape it with your fingers.
- 13
Flatten each ball between your palms so the edges are thinner than the middle.
- 14
Bake until the surfaces crack and the cookies are pale golden, about 13 to 15 minutes.
Africook’s Notes
- Take the almonds out of the oil before they look done. They carry on colouring for a couple of minutes off the heat and burnt almonds ruin the batch.
- Do not try to roll the dough. It is meant to be crumbly and will fall apart; form each cookie by hand and press it flat between your palms.
- Add the last of the flour gradually. Flour and humidity vary, and the dough is right when it holds together under a squeeze but is still crumbly.
- Press the edges thinner than the middle. It is what encourages the characteristic cracking.
- The sesame is toasted dry and the almonds are fried in oil. They are different treatments and swapping them changes the flavour.
- If they do not crack, they are still good. The cracks are the signature rather than a test of success.
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