This week #SundaySupper has an awesome theme: Middle Eastern Cuisine. I love Middle Eastern cuisine! However, when thinking more and more about it I rarely have dessert. I have some greek desserts which I don’t consider true Middle Eastern so I went on a hunt.
I found a recipe for shortbread cookies but of course they were full of ghee. A substitution of margarine and a few more ingredients later I got a really cool twist on a classic ghraybeh cookie.
Ghraybeh are Lebanese and so tasty. Orange flower water is something I had to go buy but the subtle taste was well worth it. Sometimes they are covered with powdered sugar and sometimes they are plain. Let’s be honest, everything is better with powdered sugar!
Vegan Ghraybeh (Middle Eastern Shortbread Cookies)
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup semolina flour
- 1 cup powdered sugar plus more for dusting
- 1 cup margarine softened
- 2 teaspoons orange flower water
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/4 cup approximately shelled pistachios
- Extra powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300ºF.
- Mix together the margarine, sugar, and orange flower water until light and creamy. Sift together flours and cardamom and stir into margarine mixture until well combined. Chill dough for 30 minutes.
- Form dough into grape-sized balls, then shape balls into wreaths. Place a pistachio on each cookie.
- Arrange cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 18-20 minutes, until cookies are dry to the touch and just starting to change color. Transfer cookies to a rack and immediately dust heavily with powdered sugar.
- Makes about 3 dozen cookies.
Vegan Ghraybeh (Middle Eastern Shortbread Cookies)
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup semolina flour
- 1 cup powdered sugar plus more for dusting
- 1 cup margarine softened
- 2 teaspoons orange flower water
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/4 cup approximately shelled pistachios
- Extra powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300ºF.
- Mix together the margarine, sugar, and orange flower water until light and creamy. Sift together flours and cardamom and stir into margarine mixture until well combined. Chill dough for 30 minutes.
- Form dough into grape-sized balls, then shape balls into wreaths. Place a pistachio on each cookie.
- Arrange cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 18-20 minutes, until cookies are dry to the touch and just starting to change color. Transfer cookies to a rack and immediately dust heavily with powdered sugar.
- Makes about 3 dozen cookies.
Mezze {Appetizers}
- Muhammara – Supper for a Steal
- Homemade Labneh Cheese – The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen
- Jerusalem’s Burnt Eggplant with Garlic, Lemon & Pomegranate Seeds – Take A Bite Out of Boca
- Sun Dried Tomato Hummus – Family Foodie
Salata {Salads and Sides}
- Fried Cauliflower w/ Sesame Parsley Sauce (Qarnabeet Mekleh Bil Taratoor) – girlichef
- Burnt Eggplant and Chickpea Soup – The Wimpy Vegetarian
- Couscous, Lentil and Chickpea Salad – Citronlimette
- Persian Jeweled Rice – Vintage Kitchen Notes
- Lebanese Rice – Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
Main
- Quinoa Falafel– Jane’s Adventure in Dinner
- Jamie Oliver’s Beef Tagine – Shockingly Delicious
- Chicken Biryani – Bobbi’s Kozy Kitchen
- Crockpot Curry Chicken – The Foodie Army Wife
- Quinoa Falafel with Fresh Herbs – Sue’s Nutrition Buzz
- Shakshuka – kimchi MOM
- Beef Tagine Over Couscous – Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
- Grilled Red Snapper with Cilantro and Onion Stuffing or حمراء مشوية مع حشوة – Food Lust People Love
- Falafel with Israeli Salad – Webicurean
- Chicken Shawarma – The Texan New Yorker
- Spaghetti Squash Pastitsio with Greek Yogurt Bechamel – Cupcakes & Kale Chips
- Kushari – Curious Cuisiniere
- Israeli BBQ Chicken – From Fast Food to Fresh Food
- Quick Persian Rice with Spiced Beef – MarocMama
Halwa {Desserts}
- Ghraybeh Cookies – Killer Bunnies, Inc
- Fried Honey Citrus Cakes – Neighborfood
- Easy Baklava Cake – NinjaBaking.com
- Ghraybeh – That Skinny Chick Can Bake
- Sesame Tahini Cookies – Magnolia Days
- Basbousa (Semolina Cake) – Mess Makes Food
Orange water sounds intriguing, Shannon. And your yummy looking cookies are positively calling my name! Thank you for sharing the recipe =)
Orange water really is a great ingredient to have on hand and a little bit goes a long way! Love your vegan take on these cookies!
There were SO many variations of this cookie when I was looking for a recipe! Yours sounds SO good with the orange flower water…and I love the shape!!!
I planned on just making rope wreaths but I left my dough in the fridge too long the last time I made it for the photos. Oopsie! Still tasted great though!
This is a really interesting recipe, thank you for sharing!
I need some of these right now to dunk in my coffee. These look fabulous!
What adorable little cookies!
WOW I love your recipe as well as Liz’s. I see a lot of shortbread cookies in my future!!
Great for vegan cookie monsters! And now you have me curious about orange flower water too. I’ll have to look for it and give it a try.
What a treat! I’ve never had these either but now .trt wait n’t
I am of Lebanese heritage, and grew up with a grandma who made ghraybeh quite often…now I make them for my grandchildren. Yours look lovely!
I’ve never hear of these cookies! They sound wonderful and I’ll definitely be trying since I love shortbread.
I’m beginning to like Middle Eastern desserts! These look delectable!
Mmm pistachios in the cookies and dusted with powdered sugar, sounds amazing!
These sound so delicious and they look so pretty, too!