Almond Graybeh

4.67 from 3 votes
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Almond graybeh is a classic Lebanese butter cookie that is delicate, light, and pure white. Almond graybeh is baked especially for Easter and Christmas. The recipe makes so many cookies (4 dozen!) that it’s perfect for weddings, graduation parties, or anytime you want lots of incredibly delicious cookies to share.

Almond graybeh on a sheet pan

I’ve always been a huge fan of everything toasted. Deep golden brown rules my recipes, especially when it comes to baklawa, or nuts of any kind. More toast = more flavor.

So Lebanese graybeh, the melt-in-your-mouth butter cookie that nearly killed me when I was trying to develop the perfect recipe back in the day, poses a significant challenge to my toast-love.

Blanched almonds on a vintage blue and white plate
Whipped butter in the mixer for graybeh butter cookies
Lebanese orange blossom water on the counter for baking

By its nature, graybeh is meant to be white as snow, absolutely pure white. Baked through, yet with no hint of brown on the bottom. Often graybeh is topped with a blanched almond, equally as white and pure. Never toasted. Though yes, the nut does toast some during the baking of the cookie (so there, graybeh!).

While I was forming the little balls of graybeh dough, a softer than soft dough that hugs the almond into it like a dream, I realized that it’s possible my propensity for deep golden may not be just about flavor. It might be a sign of impatience, since for me it takes a lot more finesse (patience, thoughtfulness) to let the cookie be white than it does to go deep golden.

Wedding rings come off for shaping graybeh
Graybeh dough balls on a sheet pan

Maybe I need to use graybeh for, as it’s said, an opportunity for growth. Maybe graybeh is like the cookie version of my spirit animal, offering me all of the healing, love and support I need to muster what it takes to bake a white cookie (if I used emojis here, now would be a good time for a sideways face with wacky eyes and tongue).

Amid my tests for how long it takes to bake a white-yet-baked cookie, I was reminded that actually, my love for the pure white has a lengthy and fabled history. In food, it’s true that I could love very little more than a fluffy white marshmallow frosting (okay, it’s great torched, but still).

In all other aspects of life, all that is white is very . . . Abood.

Cookies on a rack with notes for baking time and temp

The great Dave O’Leary, Jr happened to call right while I had my hands in the graybeh dough recently. I told him what I was doing, trying to bake a white cookie.

“Ahhhhh, Abood WHITE!” he launched in with remarkable relish. “When white just isn’t white enough, step up to Abood white. It’s like an eclipse; it’s so bright you’ve got to be careful and cover your eyes. This is purer than hospital white; this is extra clean white, white on white….”

And so on.

Almond graybeh on a sheet pan
Little white Lebanese almond butter cookies on green paper plates

I was reminded immediately of this, where one of my favorite-things posts back in the day was all things. . . white. If there is ever a choice in color, where white is one of the options, Dan will say, “you know you’re going to pick the white, so why even deliberate?”

Dear, dear graybeh, you are white on white! Turns out your lesson may be less about my impatience, and more about how perfect you are, if I can say it: how Abood you are, and how very delectable white on white really is.

Almond graybeh on a sheet pan with a Silpat underneath the cookies
4.67 from 3 votes

Almond Graybeh

By Maureen Abood
Take your time shaping the little balls for these adorable, delicious cookies. Taking your rings off will help keep the balls smooth. Graybeh is meant to be snow white, yet baked, so stay on top of your oven and lift a cookie up to see how the bottom is doing as you get toward the end of the baking time. Let the cookies cool completely before touching them, as the sides will firm up as they cool. The graybeh should be small; they’ll expand some during baking, so the balls will be a little smaller than seems right. But they are.
Servings: 4 dozen

Ingredients 

  • 3/4 cup clarified butter, solid/cool room temperature
  • 3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
  • 1 teaspoon orange blossom water
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla (you can sub all vanilla, 2 teaspoons total, for the orange blossom water if you like)
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 3/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour (fluff the flour up before scooping with a spoon into the measuring cup)
  • 3/4 cup blanched whole almonds

Instructions 

  • Heat the oven to 325 degrees and place the rack in the center of the oven. Line two sheet pans with parchment or a silpat.
  • Using a mixer with the whisk attachment, whip the butter on high speed until fluffy, creamy and pale, about six minutes. Stop and scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula for even whipping. Add the sugar, orange blossom water, and vanilla and whip until well combined and fluffy. 
  • In a small bowl, whisk the flour and salt. On low speed, slowly blend in the flour, ½ cup at a time.
  • To shape the cookies, pull off a heaping teaspoon of dough and roll it between the palms of your hand into a smooth ball. Smoothness is key here to avoiding cracks in the cookies when they’re baked. Form balls to fill one sheet pan with them (about an inch and a half apart; they don’t need much room to expand). 
  • Press an almond into the top of each ball. 
  • Bake the cookies for about 22 minutes, or until they are baked through but only ever-so-slightly golden and still pale on the bottom. At about 18 minutes, start checking the cookies by lifting one up with a spatula. 
  • Make the remaining cookie balls while the first pan bakes.
  • Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool completely before handling them, as they will firm up as they cool. 
  • The graybeh will keep in an airtight container for a couple of days. They’re better eaten soon after they’re baked.

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Author: Maureen Abood
Servings: 4 dozen
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18 Comments

  1. Hello Maureen, I just tried to make some graybeh followed the recipe exactly my dough did not hold together, i am wondering do you have the right measurement for the ghee? What did I do wrong? The dough tasted very good but would not hold together.
    Please advise

    1. Hi Annie, thank you for writing. Sounds like the dough was dry, when you say it didn’t hold together? In that case add a splash of milk to soften it. If it’s too soft, add a tablespoon of flour at a time until in either case the dough is pliable, and holds when shaped. You can work it with your hands to get it there as well. Let me know how it goes and any additional questions!

  2. Hi Maureen – I grew up going to Beirut with my parents, and would always plead with them to take me to Amal Bohsali Bakery the first day we were there to get Greybeh cookies. I have not yet tried to make your recipe, but will do so soon. Do you have any thoughts as to the weight of the flour amount required in grams? Measuring flour by volume always seems problematic for me (too dry / too wet, etc.), so was wondering if you have ever done the recipe by listing the weights required of the sugar and flour.
    Thanks!

    1. Ken what special memories you have. Weights are important and I do have all weights in my cookbook. Working on adding those here. You’ll want 218 grams of flour (7.7 oz).

    1. Hi Debbie, sorry that happened. Too much flour, which can be dicey depending on how it’s measured. But to fix, you can add milk a tablespoon at a time to soften the dough to the right consistency, taking care not to go too far with it.

  3. Maureen,
    I am so excited to try your Graybeh recipe! I’ve tried my Sittie’s recipe that is very similar, which we call Miehle. Her recipe calls for extra fine sugar instead of powdered. Mine never turn out as perfect as her’s did. I think I just need more practice.
    Thank you for sharing and have a blessed Christmas!

  4. I absolutely LOVE this recipe , I followed it to a T and it was perfect ! My husband and the kids love them too , I’ll definitely be making them for Xmas

  5. Hi Maureen, thank you for this recipe which led me to discover the rest of your writing. I have enjoyed it tremendously!

  6. Try rubber gloves like they use in doctor’s office. I use them when forming dough products. I haven’t tried them on graybeh dough yet.

  7. Ha! Balls? For some reason my family always made them into little wreaths. Try ROLLING that stuff in your hands and forming a circle! You will be forgiven if you curse the first few years you make them 🙂 Also, we don’t add salt, vanilla, or blossom water. Our family, the Fadels of Bikfaya, came over to Niagara Falls a hundred years ago. Maybe that has something to do with it. Non-Lebanese folks always love them too. My only wish from an “Auntie” for my wedding was a tin of these and her recipe! I used to make my own clarified butter, but now I just buy ghee. It comes out great.

    1. Oh yes, the circle is very common too. It must take a very particularly soft dough to form the circles, which I’ve tried and darnit, they crack and break!! Soft enough to form and sturdy enough to hold its shape in the oven, right?! I’m glad I’m forgiven the curse…. Many have told me they use no flavoring other than good butter, which is a delicious way no doubt. Your wedding gift sounds perfect. You were a smart bride!

  8. My hands get very warm and I can’t get the desired smoothness on every cookie. The dough starts to stick to my hands. Any ideas?

    1. I like Helen’s rubber glove idea. Also you can rinse your hands with cold water as often as needed as you work (dry thoroughly before shaping).