Ghribia, Algerian Cookies, Les Petits Gâteaux Spécialité Algérienne

I've been holding on posting cookie recipes until I have time to bake them. But the urgent requests keep coming for Ramadan. So I will insert photos later.

Ghribia or ghribiya are made from all purpose flour, semolina flour or even chick pea flour in Algeria. Sometimes a little corn flour or ground almonds are added. My preference is for the ones made with semolina. So I will present that one first.

Ingredients:

1 kg semolina flour
1 kg de semoule

2 sticks of butter, softened.
225 gr de beurre

3 eggs, yolks and whites separated
3 oeufs, separe les jaunes d'oeuf des blancs d'oeuf

750 gr confectioner's sugar (some people add less sugar)
750 gr de sucre glace

1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cuillere a cafe de sel

Whole blanched almonds for decoration (optional)

Oil for the baking sheets

Yields approximately 7 dozen cookies.

EDIT!!! I forgot to add that you should have some vegetable oil at hand in case the dough is too dry and does not bind. Add a few tablespoons of oil until the mass comes together.

Method:

1) Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form.

2) Beat the egg yolks and butter until fluffy, an electric blender is really handy for this. Fold in  2/3 of the confectioner's sugar (reserve the rest for dipping the cookies into later) and the flour. Gently fold in the egg whites, they will collapse a bit, don't worry about it.

3) Preheat oven to 180C (350F)

4) The dough will be sticky, so you must moisten your hands from time to time while forming the cookies.

5) Lightly oil the baking sheet, you can butter it if you like. Take off a walnut sized piece of dough and form it into a sphere by rolling it between the palms of your hands, gently flatten one side. Lightly dip the other side into the reserved confectioner's sugar and place on the baking sheet. You can insert an almond into the center if you like. It takes practice to make pretty ghribia, but the funny looking ones taste the same.

6) Bake in the middle shelf as you would other types of cookies for about 15 minutes. Some people cook them for a shorter time to produce a very pale colored cookie, others like a more golden colored cookie so they bake it a few minutes longer.

Comments

[kaouther]

Thanks for sharing your recipe.
I have never tasted the semolina version. My family recipe is made with one measure of butter, one measure of icing sugar and enough flour to form a dough.
this is the typical ghraiba of the Eastern part of the country, commonly known in the Algerian books as " la ghaiba constantinoise" though it's not only typical to that town.
amitiees

[nassima]

merci haba ne3eraf la roucette de bagelawa

[Farid Zadi]

I have several recipes for soup with meatballs in it. I don't know how the lady you mention spiced hers. If it had rosewater, I think that it had also used the sweeter spices.

I will present my recipes with suggestions for different spices to add.

[Iman]

An Algerian lady made a soup for ifar which included meatballs and rosewater. It was absolutely delicious, would you happen to know this dish & how to make it?