Moroccan Shortbread Cookies: A Sweet Journey to Ghoriba Bahla

Nov 16, 2025 0

When it comes to well-known global food destinations, Morocco is a little under-appreciated. Today, Morocco's diverse cuisine is full of bold, contradictory flavors and staple textures, whether it be tagine-cooked meat, fluffy couscous, or sweet mint tea. While Morocco does show off some tasty classics like baklava and lemon cake, their traditional shortbread cookies, ghoriba bahla, are a must-eat staple in the country.

Moroccan Shortbread Cookies “Ghriba” are a staple in any Moroccan household. These shortbread cookies are made with flour, sugar, oil, and almonds. My mom used to bake these cookies as a treat for Shabbat, happy occasions and holidays. All my non-Jewish Midwestern friends love them too.

The Moroccan Shortbread Cookies (Ghoriba) originated in the Maghreb region and other parts of the Arab world. My mom said they used to call this a “sand” cookie in Morocco. It’s crumbly texture and look does resemble sand. Ghoriba cookies require few ingredients and are easy to make. Traditionally made with almond flour, I use all-purpose flour as it is more readily available in my pantry. (The use of almond flour is perfect as a gluten-free option.

Let's delve into the delightful world of Moroccan shortbread cookies, exploring their origins, unique characteristics, and a classic recipe to try at home.

Moroccan Ghoriba cookies

What is Ghoriba?

The ghoriba (Arabic: غريبة‎, also spelled ghribia, ghraïba, or ghriyyaba) is a type of cookie prepared in the Maghreb and other parts of the Arab world. It is a round, shortbread cookie made with flour, sugar, oil, and usually almonds.

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Ghoriba is the Arabic word for cookie. 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. 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.

Moroccan Ghoribas, also spelled Ghriba or Ghriyba, are popular round-shaped cookies in Morocco that are made with different types of nuts, as per Cooking With Alia. There are many varieties of these types of cookies each made with slightly different ingredients. The translation of this cookie's name means "silly stranger," which comes from the fact these cookies develop cracks on their surfaces after being baked. This type of cookie gets the unique distinction of bhala only if it has the signature crinkle because bhala means "silly" or even "stupid," according to Taste of Maroc.

Ghriba is the delightful Moroccan Shortbread Cookie we grew up with. It is Vegan without even trying! Ghriba is beyond simple to prepare, in fact I’ve always had a no-fail mnemonic formula for the ridiculously simple ingredients: 4-1-1. Respectively: 4=flour, 1 = vegetable oil (melted butter if you are on a total splurge or don’t mind making your cookies dairy), 1 = sugar. That’s all ghriba is: Flour, oil and sugar. Three humble ingredients that end up being so elegant.

We Moroccans would forego every cookie creation for the pleasure of our native shortbread cookies. Incredible that a humble mixture of flour, oil and sugar and nothing else should taste so rich and intriguing. Prepare for a wonderful surprise when you take your first bite: at once gritty and melts in your mouth.

Now you can take the totally artless Moroccan shortbread cookies ingredients, and take them places. It even includes a gluten-free variation, as you will see when you scroll down. Try my Moroccan nut truffles, shortbread cookies by any other name. But first I urge you to try the basic ghriba as given below: it is delicious just as is.

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Ghoriba bahla are pale on top, golden on the bottoms, and crumbly like shortbread. 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.

‘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. 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.

This ghoriba bahla recipe is just sweet enough, super crunchy and crumbly and studded with ground fried almonds and toasted sesame seeds. I dare you to eat just one!

Here is what you are going to need to make this recipe:

Butter at room temperature: butter is very important to this recipe as it provide the moisture that the pastry needs. Avoid using cold butter as it will be very hard to incorporate it efficiently into the dough.
Almond flour: absorbs moisture efficiently and gives yours cookies a very soft and crumbly feel. Not to mention that it gives the cookies a very unique flavor.
Granulated sugar: for sweetness and chewiness. It is a cookie after all.
Egg: the main binding agent in this recipe.
Vanilla extract: although we are using orange blossom water, it is very important not to skip the vanilla extract as it compliments perfectly the other flavors present in here.
Almond extract: mixed with ground almonds this extract adds a very strong almond flavor to the dough.
All-purpose flour: you will need 200-220g of flour. The amount will vary depending on the size of your egg and the precision of your measurements of the wet ingredients.

Ghoriba Bahla Recipe

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.

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Ghoriba bahla's ingredients are similar to other shortbread cookies, and the ingredients list is kept short and simple. The dry ingredient list includes sugar, along with vanilla sugar for added flavoring, all-purpose flour, baking powder, and a pinch of salt, as per The Spruce Eats. Unsalted butter and vegetable oil are added to make a dough that's on the drier side, perfect for achieving that classic crumbly and sandy shortbread texture.

The first step in making ghoriba bahla is to form a dough out of both the dry and wet ingredients, according to Cooking with Alia. Small pieces of the dough can be broken off to form the cookies, which are rolled between the baker's palms and gently flattened into a rounded disc-like shape, and then they're baked. Traditionally, as The Spruce Eats notes, these cookies were originally molded using a special baking sheet. The sheets were designed with rounded bottoms, allowing the cookies to bake into a fuller shape.

Ingredients:

100 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
70 grams almond flour
100 grams granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp orange blossom water
220 grams all-purpose flour
Icing:
150-180 grams Icing sugar
1 large egg white
1 tsp all-purpose flour
½ tbsp lemon juice

Instructions:

Dough assembly can be done in food processor, stand mixer or by hand. Refer to blog post for instructions.

To your food processor, add butter, egg, sugar, vanilla, orange blossom water and almond flour. Mix until all ingredients are well incorporated. Add flour and mix again until your dough comes together.
Move your dough onto a well floured surface. Bring the dough into a rough rectangle with your hands and wrap it plastic. Chill your dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Transfer your chilled dough to a well floured large piece of parchment paper and roll it to a rectangle that is roughly 9"x13". Let your dough rest aside and start making your icing.
To a mixing bowl add roughly half of your icing sugar along with your egg white and flour. Mix until fully incorporated. Keep adding your sugar slowly until you're left with roughly 50 grams ¼ of original amount. Add your lemon juice and mix again. Add the remaining icing sugar very slowly and stop adding once you get a thick consistency. Your icing should be able to just fall off your whisk, like a cake batter.
Spread your icing evenly on top of your rolled pastry. Let your dough rest for 20 minutes before cutting.
Using a ravioli cutter, or ring cutter, start cutting your cookies from the bottom left corner as shown in the process picture above. At every third cut, dip your cutter in flour to stop the cookies from sticking to the cutter. Place your cut cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Once all your cookies are cut, allow them to rest on the baking sheet for at least 2 hours, or until the icing has hardened and is not very sticky to the touch. This process can take 2-3 hours depending on how warm your kitchen is and how thick your icing is.
Preheat your oven to 250F and bake for 50 minutes. If you like your shortbread cookies a little softer bake for 40 minutes instead. Let cool down for 10 minutes before serving.

Note how dry the dough looks. Traditionally, there’s a special pan you are supposed to bake them on so they end up with concave backs. Note that the edges are thinner than the centers of the shaped cookies.

The first is blanching and frying almonds. 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.

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 needing 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.

Unlike those gooey chocolate chip cookies that are best eaten fresh out of the oven, Cooking With Alia suggests to let the cookies cool down before eating them. Otherwise, an undesirable crumbling will occur. Once cooled, they're best served with a hot beverage. Coffee or traditional Moroccan mint tea are both great options.

Tips and Tricks

Storage: Store baked and cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Dough: Chill unbaked cookie dough in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Freeze cookie dough balls (not coated in powdered sugar) for up to 3 months.
Orange blossom water: Swap in rose water in place of orange blossom water.
Decoration: Stick or press one almond into each cookie dough ball before baking. Almonds make a nice decoration.

And that is that. Enjoy this ghoriba bahla recipe-it might just become your new favorite shortbread cookie recipe.

For 1 Cookie: StorageStore in an airtight container. Your cookies should stay fresh for at least 10 days.

Hi, y’all! Expect updates on new and tasty recipes as well as a bit of behind-the-scenes action.

Thank you so much for spending some time with me today.

Jennifer FieldFormer Special Education teacher turned pastry chef.

Making cookies for Eid al Fitr is just one of those things that almost every household in Morocco does. Every house has its own specialty, and it is not uncommon to see neighbors trade cookies. And it all makes sense. If you know that your neighbor makes the best Apricot Jam Cookies, and that your Crescent Cookies are better than hers, then it only makes sense to produce a surplus in order to trade it for those sweet Apricot Jam Cookies. In economics we call that a comparative advantage. It’s the foundation of the Moroccan Cookie Trade Economy XD.

Shorbread Cookies are abundant in Morocco. However, our Shortbread, or pate sablée, is somewhat different from what you will find in Europe. First, we use ground almonds and we combine it with either almond extract or orange blossom water. That combo is what gives our cookies their signature taste and texture.

Crescent Shaped Cookies are very popular in Morocco as they are fairly cheap to make, and quite delicious. They are often drizzled in ganache, baked as is (no icing), or more commonly with a simple icing like we are going to make today. Their texture is very soft and crumbly, and their taste makes them a perfect coffee companion. What better way to celebrate Eid al Fitr than with a fresh serving of Moroccan Mint Tea and a few almond shortbread cookies ?