{"id":8419,"date":"2026-10-19T23:31:42","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:31:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8419"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:50:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:50:25","slug":"ghriba","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/ghriba\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghriba"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Morocco’s ghriba bahla is a round baked sweet with deep cracks across its surface. Pale dough shows through the cracks, and in the mouth it crumbles like sand. The name ghriba, however, does not refer only to bahla, which is made with wheat flour and fat. Some versions use almonds, semolina, coconut and other ingredients, and sweets with similar names are made with different flours and fats across North Africa and farther east.<\/p>\n

Cracks on top, hollows underneath<\/h2>\n

A typical bahla dough combines wheat flour, sugar, butter and vegetable oil with sesame seeds and almonds. Working the fat through all of the flour gives a texture that crumbles finely when bitten. Toasted sesame seeds and pieces of almond add a toasty note to the pale dough.<\/p>\n

Unlike a sponge leavened with whipped eggs, the dough is firm enough to roll by hand and set down. When the dough is shaped into thick rounds and baked, deep fissures appear on top. Traditional baking sheets have rows of round bumps, and dough placed on them is left with shallow hollows on the bottom. On a flat sheet, the bottom stays flat too, so turning a cookie over shows which kind of sheet was used.<\/p>\n

Some methods first apply top heat and then switch to regular baking, while others bake at a higher temperature. The way the cracks form also changes with how the heat reaches the dough and how much the dough dries, so the same formula does not always produce the same fissures. Fresh from the oven they are fragile, so they are left to settle on the sheet for a while before being moved. When stacking them for storage, one practice is to place paper between the layers to catch falling crumbs.<\/p>\n

\n\"A\n
A cooking instructor shaping ghriba in the kitchen of the Amal Women’s Training Center in Morocco (February 8, 2015). Rolled dough is being arranged on a baking sheet. Photo: Rystheguy \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Reduced-size version obtained from Commons. No content alterations or cropping were made for this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Where did the \u201csilly\u201d name come from?<\/h2>\n

Cook Nargisse Benkabbou explains the Moroccan Arabic bahla<\/em> as meaning something like \u201csilly, a little goofy.\u201d Her own guess is that the name may come from the way the cookies crack when baked and crumble in the mouth. Although the meaning of the name has been passed down, it is not clear who gave this name to its appearance, or how. It is also said to be \u201cbecause it looks like it is laughing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\"Ghriba\n
Ghriba bahla made in a Moroccan home (March 28, 2026). Balls rolled from dough in a large bowl, arranged on a baking sheet before baking. Photo: AdilElouarti \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC0<\/a>. Reduced-size version obtained from Commons. No content alterations or cropping were made for this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Mlewza: almonds bound with egg and baked<\/h2>\n

Morocco’s mlewza, also called ghriba d’louz, has a different mouthfeel from flour-based bahla. In a recipe (ingredient proportions and method) that food writer Nada Kiffa inherited from her family, blanched almonds are ground with sugar, and eggs, a little butter and apricot jam are added. The nut paste is bound with egg, rolled into balls, coated in powdered sugar, lightly indented on top and baked.<\/p>\n

The apricot jam is used to add moistness, and the amount is adjusted according to the quality of the almonds and the size of the eggs. Cracks on the surface do not mean that the inside is made of the same flour and fat as bahla. The ghriba sold even at small shopfronts in the medina include kinds based on almonds, semolina and other ingredients, and several textures appear side by side at the tea table.<\/p>\n

Constantine’s version is made by whipping the fat<\/h2>\n

In a recipe from Constantine introduced by Algerian cook Soulef, the sweet is made from three ingredients, without eggs. Pastry smen, with its moisture removed, is beaten with powdered sugar until white and creamy, and flour is added until the dough is firm enough to shape. Both the choice of fat and the way it is mixed before the flour goes in differ from bahla, which mixes butter and vegetable oil. The smen specified here is not an aged, strongly scented butter but a clarified, solidified fat for pastry-making.<\/p>\n

What Soulef recounts is a childhood memory of finding and eating the cookies her mother had hidden in a tin in case of unexpected guests. They were an Eid sweet and, at the same time, a keeping sweet for welcoming people.<\/p>\n

\n\"Round\n
Algerian ghribia (July 22, 2016, location unknown). Pale round cookies arranged on a plate, each with a brown decoration in the center. Photo: \u0648\u0647\u0631\u0627\u0646\u064a \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Reduced-size version obtained from Commons. No content alterations or cropping were made for this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Different flours in Tunisia<\/h2>\n

Ghrayba homs from the Tunisian confectioner Masmoudi is based on chickpeas and uses sugar, wheat flour, olive oil and butter. The same shop also has droo, made with sorghum. Some versions use wheat flour and sesame, some bind almonds with egg, and others use chickpeas or sorghum: even with similar shapes and names, the main ingredients differ. Even among sweets that resemble shortbread<\/a>, there are differences such as whether eggs are used and whether the fat is whipped.<\/p>\n

A shared spelling and a medieval sweet rich in fat<\/h2>\n

The same Arabic spelling, \u063a\u0631\u064a\u0628\u0629, is pronounced close to ghraybeh in the Levant, ghorayeba in Egypt and ghriba in Morocco. Food historian Anny Gaul interprets it as a diminutive expression meaning \u201ca little wondrous thing.\u201d A 1934 cookbook by a former Egyptian royal court cook also includes a sweet of flour, sugar and clarified butter. Though the written name is the same, the formulas now differ from place to place.<\/p>\n

An older point of comparison is \u201cnuhud al-adhra,\u201d which Charles Perry discussed on the basis of four 13th-century cookbooks from the eastern Arab world. The name means \u201cvirgin’s breasts.\u201d Flour, clarified butter and sugar are used in equal amounts; the flour is lightly toasted in the fat, then the sugar is mixed in and the sweet is baked. Perry considers that it may be a predecessor of today’s ghriba. Both the step of heating the flour first and the equal proportions differ from modern bahla. In Morocco there are versions with cracked surfaces and versions bound with egg and almonds; in Algeria the fat is whipped; and in Tunisia a variety of flours is used. Under a shared name, a wide variety of ingredients and methods has been passed down.<\/p>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

\u2022 Anny Gaul<\/strong>: A scholar who researches the history of food and women in North Africa and the Arab world. She describes the relationship between spelling and pronunciation across regions.\n\u2022 Charles Perry: A food historian who researches and translates medieval Arab cookbooks. He examined the relationship between an old sweet rich in fat and ghraybeh.\n\u2022 Nuhud al-adhra: A medieval sweet name meaning \u201cvirgin’s breasts.\u201d Whether it leads directly to ghriba is still at the stage of a hypothesis.\n\u2022 Ghriba bahla: A type of Moroccan ghriba characterized by deep fissures and a sandy, fragile dough.\n\u2022 Medina: The old quarter of cities in North Africa and elsewhere.\n\u2022 Semolina: Wheat ground into coarse granules.\n\u2022 Nargisse Benkabbou: A Moroccan cook. She offers her own interpretation of the meaning and origin of the name bahla.\n\u2022 Soulef: An Algerian cook. She publishes a recipe for a Constantine sweet inherited from her mother.\n\u2022 Nada Kiffa: A food writer from Morocco. She introduces her family’s recipe for an almond sweet.\n\u2022 Mlewza \/ Ghriba d’louz: Names for an almond-based Moroccan ghriba.\n\u2022 Masmoudi: A Tunisian confectioner that makes and sells regional sweets.\n\u2022 Sorghum: A type of grain, also called morokoshi in Japanese.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n
  1. Soulef’s family memory is not a source that dates the invention of the sweet. The 13th-century sweet rich in fat that Perry discusses also does not directly indicate when the modern Moroccan cracked type was invented. The original pages of the four medieval cookbooks were not read for this article.<\/li>

  2. \u2022 Christine Benlafquih Ghoriba Bahla<\/a> \u2014 Butter and vegetable oil, sesame and almonds, the special baking sheet that leaves a concave bottom, a comparison of two baking methods, cooling and storage, and the Moroccan tea table where it is served alongside other ghriba and sweets.\n\u2022 Nada Kiffa Moroccan Almond Macaroon \u2013 Mlewza<\/a> \u2014 A family recipe of 25 years and adjusting the amount of egg; almond-based, with egg, butter, apricot jam and a powdered-sugar finish.\n\u2022 Masmoudi Ghrayba Homs<\/a> \u2014 A current product made with chickpeas, wheat flour, sugar, olive oil and butter.\n\u2022 Masmoudi Ghrayba Droo<\/a> \u2014 A current version made with sorghum and toasted almonds.\n\u2022 Moroccan National Tourist Office Food & Drinks<\/a> \u2014 Sale in the medina, and almond and semolina types. The pairing with tea is not in that page’s ghriba section; it is supported separately by the serving section of Christine Benlafquih’s article above.<\/p><\/li>

  3. \u2022 Nargisse Benkabbou \u201cPeanut Silly Ghriba\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The author’s explanation of the meaning of bahla, presenting the reason for the name as conjecture, and her own version with peanut butter added.<\/p><\/li>

  4. \u2022 Soulef \u201cGhribia constantinoise super fondante\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The three-ingredient, egg-free Constantine type, the specification of pastry smen, and the memory of her mother’s cookies kept for guests.<\/p><\/li>

  5. \n

    Anny Gaul, little wondrous things: \u063a\u0631\u064a\u0628\u0629<\/a> \u2014 The spelling and regional pronunciations, the interpretation as a diminutive, and inclusion in the 1934 cookbook by a former royal court cook. The scholar’s own presentation of her research. The 1934 original and the history of the first naming were not seen directly. Does not support a single place of invention<\/p>\n<\/li>

  6. \n

    Charles Perry, medieval virgin\u2019s breasts (Anissa Helou guest post)<\/a> \u2014 A related sweet in four 13th-century cookbooks, equal amounts of flour\/sugar\/fat, the step of toasting the flour first, and his reservations about the direct-ancestor hypothesis. The scholar’s own source analysis and re-creation. The four original cookbooks were not read directly for this article. Not the year of invention of the modern Moroccan type<\/p>\n<\/li>

  7. Editorial note (Japanese re-edit)<\/h3><\/li>

  8. The theory that bahla was named \u201cbecause it looks like it is laughing\u201d is not treated as established naming history. A direct line of descent between nuhud al-adhra and today’s ghriba is also not established and is presented as Perry’s view.<\/p><\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Ghriba is the name for round baked sweets made in Morocco and elsewhere. Formulas vary, including versions made with almonds or semolina and versions made with coconut. Among them, ghriba bahla is characterized by deep cracks across its surface and a dough that crumbles like sand. Even without any decoration, the pattern created in the oven gives each piece its own character.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7420,"menu_order":190,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Ghriba","subtitle":"A cracked surface and a sandy, melting crumble","topics":"Sesame and almonds worked into the flour \/ The underside shaped by a special baking sheet \/ From medina shopfronts to the tea table","country":"Morocco","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["nuts","butter","coconut","grain","seed"],"texture":["crumbly"],"occasion":[],"method":["baked"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[151],"class_list":["post-8419","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"auto","sweetlore_related_articles":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t