These eggless Moroccan Semolina Cookies are a healthier version of the traditional Ghriba cookies that you'll find all over Morroco. Made with the almond and semolina flours, these lemon flavored cookies are a perfect accompaniment to a cup of mint tea or coffee.
Also check out my Moroccan Semolina Pancakes
Beautiful and flavorful Moroccan Semolina Cookies with almond flour and lemon are coming your way!
Very easy to make and delicious with just about everything.
In Morocco these popular cookies are called Ghriba and there are many variations of them.
Of course, original Ghriba recipe contains eggs but because there is just 1 egg, so I was successful at substituting it with the applesauce.
📋 Ingredients
It's a common practice in Morocco to bake both with almond and semolina flour. In the US you can buy semolina flour in most grocery stores.
- almond flour
- semolina flour is a type of wheat flour made of durum wheat. It's considered slightly healthier that a regular white flour
- baking powder - will help our cookies rise
- sea salt
- organic cane sugar and powdered sugar
- lemon zest and lemon extract. You can buy lemon extract in most grocery stores in the spice aisle. However if you can't find, you can make omit it and increase the amount of lemon zest
- applesauce is used in place of an egg
- neutral oil, like grapeseed or sunflower oil
🔪 Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a large baking sheet with a parchment paper.
In a medium bowl combine almond flour, semolina flour, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl add cane organic sugar, lemon zest and rub ingredients together for a minute until sugar is fragrant.
To a bowl with sugar add applesauce and beat with electric mixer for 1 minute. Beat in vanilla and lemon extract (if using). Add oil and slowly add in half of the dry ingredients.
Continue beating on low until all dry ingredients are incorporated. The dough will be thick and slightly crumbly.
In a shallow bowl add powdered sugar and set aside.
Scoop a heaping teaspoon of dough and roll it with your fingers into a firm ball. Roll in powdered sugar, place on a baking sheet and lightly press in a center of a cookie with your thumb.
Shape the remaining of cookies and bake for 14 minutes, rotating the pan from front to back halfway.
Transfer to the wire rack to cool.
Once the cookies are cool, you can sprinkle them with some more powdered sugar and top with lemon zest.
Yummy!
♨️ Storing Tips
I recommend storing these vegan Ghriba cookies in the airtight container at a room temperature for up to 3 days.
🍪 Similar Recipes
If you're looking for a quick overview of the recipe, please check out my Moroccan cookies web-story.
📖 Recipe
Moroccan Semolina Cookies {Lemon Ghriba}
Ingredients
- 1 c almond flour
- ¾ c semolina flour
- 1 ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ c organic cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ¼ c applesauce
- 2 tablespoon neutral oil grapeseed or sunflower oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract or increase the lemon zest by 1 teaspoon
- ¼ c powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a large baking sheet with a parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl combine almond flour, semolina flour, baking powder and salt.
- In a large bowl add cane organic sugar, lemon zest and rub ingredients together for a minute until sugar is fragrant.
- Add in applesauce and beat with electric mixer for 1 minute. Beat in vanilla and lemon extract (if using). Add oil and slowly add in half of the dry ingredients.
- Continue beating on low until all dry ingredients are incorporated. The dough will be thick and slightly crumbly.
- In a shallow bowl add powdered sugar and set aside. Scoop a heaping teaspoon of dough and roll it with your fingers into a firm ball. Roll in powdered sugar, place on a baking sheet and lightly press in a center of a cookie with your thumb.
- Shape the remaining of cookies and bake for 14 minutes, rotating the pan from front to back halfway.
- Transfer to the wire rack to cool. Once the cookies are cool, you can sprinkle them with some more powdered sugar and top with lemon zest.
Kulia says
Really yummy! I love almond cookies.
Easyfoodsmith says
I have made coconut ghriba and I loved it. But I am totally sold out to these zesty ones. Going to make these soon 😀
Iryna says
Awesome! I hope you'll like them:)
Devon says
I might have missed it but I don’t see where you add the oil so I just didn’t add any when I made these. Is there a typo somewhere or did I miss it?
Iryna says
Hi Devon! My apologies, somehow I forgot to add oil to instructions. It's supposed to be added right before you add the flour. Please, let me know how the cookies turned out.
Devon says
I have now made them twice sans oil and they have been amazing! Thanks so much for the recipe.
Iryna says
Devon, I'm so glad the cookies turned out well and that you enjoyed them. Good to know they can be made without oil. Thank you for your sharing!