Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Grhybe Gorayba Ghrybe Ghoraibi (Lebanese Butter Cookies)

Grhybe/Gorayba/Ghrybe/Ghoraibi...they are spelled in more ways so the search for these on the internet proved difficult. I had this shortbread cookie with the most tender crumb at Kan Zeman, in Palo Alto some weekends back. Shortbreads are my favourite cookies and there seem to versions of it around the world, nankhatai in India, shortbread from Scotland, grhybe from the Middle East...The three important ingredients are all-purpose flour, shortening and sugar. Variations include addition of powdered nuts, rice flour, corn flour, semolina...shortening of choice, butter, clarified butter, ghee and plain old vegetable oil. Some recipes also call for a leaving agent, baking powder and sometimes eggs (squirm) to both leaven and bind. Flavourings and dried nuts to embellish are also used. They do not agree on the temperature of the fat or the state it should be in or the temperature or length of time they should be baked, perhaps all this contributes to the variety but they all share something in common, a pale hue and a delicate texture.
I followed this recipe but baked it at 250 degrees F for 60 minutes as recommended here. They had the hue of the palest brown but, cough, were NOT short (sob) enough. Need to find another recipe...
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