Levantine cuisine · Desserts & Sweets

Sanioura

Very short, melt-in-the-mouth sugar cookies from Sidon, made with orange blossom water and an almond kernel.

Ingredients · for 6 servings

• 300 g flour
• 200 g butter
• 120 g powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp orange blossom water
• 1 tbsp rose water
• 40 g almonds
• 1 pinch salt
• 2 tbsp powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

1. Toast the flour without any fat in a dry pan over medium heat for 6–8 min., stirring, until it smells lightly beige, then let it cool completely.
2. Melt the butter in a small pot, let it settle briefly and pour off only the clear yellow part — the clarified fat is what makes the cookies especially short.
3. Mix the toasted flour, powdered sugar and salt, add the clarified butter, orange blossom and rose water, and knead into a soft, just-shapeable dough; let rest chilled for 20 min.
4. Shape walnut-sized balls from the dough, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment, press lightly flat and press one almond into the center of each.
5. Bake in the preheated oven at 160 °C top/bottom heat for 18–20 min. — the cookies should stay pale and take on only the faintest color at the edge.
6. Let cool completely on the sheet, as they are still fragile while hot, then dust thickly with powdered sugar and serve with tea.