These are the divinely simple Moroccan cookies, moist and chewy inside while still maintaining a fun crisp crust outside, they are called "Coconut-Semolina Ghriba". This is one of my favourite treats as a child and I always loved making them with my mum right from childhood. I used to help her shaping the sticky dough into ghriba balls, and this is another story because this part was a very messy affair, but the best role I liked most was dusting them with icing sugar, I mean a lot of icing sugar. My mother always maintained that in our beloved country, Morocco, there are so many happy occasions to celebrate due to the multicultural population, thus each day in the year was a happy excuse to make those lovely ghribas, and as she used to say "No occasion is complete without Ghriba to sweeten our palette"!.
Semolina flour goes perfectly well with the texture of coconut, another amazing combination in Moroccan Cuisine. The traditional recipe calls definitely for the use of fine semolina, which is a grounded durum wheat, and which is different from any pastry flour you are used to and I will not recommend a substitution of any sort.
No need to add these ghribas are the best accompaniment to Moroccan tea, the hint of orange flower water, ginger and cinnamon in them is the Moroccan fresh mint tea pairing perfection! I am posting today the traditional version of "Semolina-Coconut Ghriba", which my mother used to make, adding ground almonds and fresh spices to it, and I prefer this way to make it.
Mamatkamal
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