Recipe(tried): Lebanese Cookies (6)

LEBANESE COOKIES
Makes 3 Dozen

1/3 cup Cooking oil
1/2 cup Butter, softened
1/3 cup Sugar
1 tbsp. Orange juice
1 tsp. Baking powder
1/2 tsp. Baking soda
2 cups All-purpose flour
3/4 cup Sugar
1/3 cup Honey
1/3 cup Finely chopped walnuts

In mixer bowl, beat cooking oil into butter until blended, beat in sugar. Add orange juice, baking powder and baking soda, mix well. Add flour, a little at a time, to make a soft dough. Shape dough into 2-inch ovals and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden. Cool pastries on rack.
Meanwhile, in a saucepan, combine the 3/4 cup sugar, honey and 1/2 cup water, bring to a boil, boil gently, uncovered for 5 minutes. Dip cooled pastries into the warm syrup. Sprinkle immediately with nuts. Dry on wire rack.

GHRYBE - Lebanese Butter Cookies

2 cups Solid rendered butter
1 cup Superfine sugar
1 cup Confectioners sugar
4 cups cake flour Approximately
Blanched almond halves

Place butter in mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer for about 10-15 minutes until butter is white and fluffy. Add 2 types of sugar. Whip again thoroughly with a spatula; gradually add flour and continue to mix with spatula until the flour is absorbed and a medium soft dough is formed. Be sure to mix with spatula, because heat from hands melts the butter. Add more flour if needed. Remove mixture to lightly floured surface and quickly roll with floured hands into rope shape about 1 1/2 inch diameter. Cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces on diagonal forming a diamond shape. Place one almond in middle of each diamond. Place on baking sheet at 300 degrees until cookies are set. They should remaining white not browned, about 10-12 minutes. Let cool on sheet. When cold remove carefully.

LEBANESE COOKIES
Makes 30 cookies

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/8 cup shredded coconut, toasted
1 cup quick cooking oatmeal, uncooked
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup room temperature water
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper. Mix all the ingredients (hands work best) except water until dough is combined and crumbly. Add water and vanilla and knead until smooth. Roll dough into walnut size balls and place on cookie sheets about 2-inch apart. Flatten with a fork. Bake 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

LEBANESE COOKIES - yeasted

5 lbs. flour
2 1/2 cups melted butter
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup ground anise
2 pkgs. dry yeast
1 qt. milk
1 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt

Dissolve yeast in some sugar water and let set for a few minutes. Mix all ingredients together, let it rise. Take small pieces of dough, roll out the dough, then hold one side and roll up the dough, twisting it as you roll to make a rope. Fasten ends together, doughnut style, to form a circle and pinch ends together. Fill a pan with these cookies, then bake them at 350 degrees. To fill them, take small pieces of dough abut the size of a lemon, and pat each of them into a circle. Put a teaspoon of walnut filling in the center, then fold the cookie to make a half moon shape. Pinch ends together.

LEBANESE DATE COOKIES

6 cups flour
2 cups butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup warm milk about
4-5 cups pitted dates
1/4 cup milk
4 Tbsp. butter

Mix the flour and the sugar. Cut the butter into the butter/sugar mixture. It should be like meal. Add the milk a little at a time. Meanwhile, put the dates, milk & butter into a pan over medium heat until the dates are nice and gooshy. If they get dry, add a bit more milk and a bit more butter and keep on cooking. They shouldn't take
more than 15 or so minutes to be properly done. When the dates are cool. Take some dough, roll it into a ball and then roll it into a snake. Flatten out the snake with the palm of your hand so that you have a ribbon about 2-1/2" wide. Squish a trail of dates down the
middle of the dough ribbon. Tuck in the ends & fold up the sides, pinching the seam together gently. Cut the snake into 1 to 1-1/2" pieces and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Put the seam side down. Bake at 300 for 30 to 40 minutes. They should be just barely golden when done.

ARABIC COOKIES
Makes: 160 cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup shortening
1 cup shredded coconut
4 cups rolled oats
2 cups white sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup boiling water

Set aside boiled water and cool until lukewarm. Mix butter,
shortening, coconut, oats, sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt with fingers until dough reaches the consistency of pie crust. Add lukewarm water and work into dough. Make dough into one inch balls. Flatten with a fork or fancy bottomed glass for imprint. Place on greased cookie sheets and bake at 400 degrees F (205 degress C) for 10 minutes.