How to make Chebakia also called "Griwech" with this easy and delicious recipe. These small oriental pastries are crispy and coated with honey syrup flavored with orange blossom water and decorate with sesame seeds.
Griwech or Chebakia recipe, are delicious small cakes with oriental flavors, native from North Africa and more precisely from Morocco but also very popular in Algeria.
This oriental Moroccan sesame cookies in a elongated flower shape is very appreciated for its airy and crispy texture in the mouth and its delicious honey coating.
The chebakia have a different name depending on the region but its recipe is generally the same, a chebakia dough cut with a pastry wheel and which is then cooked in an oil frying and finally coated with a hot honey bath perfumed with orange flower water and decorated with sesame seeds.
The Moroccan chebakia is one of the favorite pastries made during the celebrations in the Maghreb and in the world on all occasions, during Ramadan, the feast of Aid or for weddings and other celebrations.
>> See all Oriental pastry recipes from the blog
Ingredients & Substitutions
Here are the necessary ingredients and possible substitutions to make chebakia (griwech) at home, scroll down the page to see the quantities in the recipe card.
- Flour: Use only all-purpose flour to make this recipe.
- Baking powder: half a sachet of baking powder that you can replace with baking soda (but be careful, baking soda is 4 times stronger).
- Sugar: optionally, use granulated powdered sugar that you can replace with flavored sugar like brown sugar.
- Vanilla and salt: Essential to flavor the dough, vanilla extract or vanilla sugar and table salt to bring out the flavors.
- Butter: Use unsalted, melted butter.
- Egg: Use a large egg at room temperature.
- White vinegar: White vinegar can be used to improve the texture of the dough and make it crispier. You can replace it with lemon juice.
- Orange blossom water: To moisten and perfume the dough you can replace it with rose water or just water.
- Oil: for frying use preferably a neutral vegetable oil like sunflower oil or grape seed oil.
- Sesame seeds: Use preferably toasted sesame seeds or white sesame seeds, you can also take golden unhulled sesame seeds.
Option
- Sesame seeds: Add a small amount of ground sesame seeds to the dough to add flavor.
- Almond: For an almond flavor, replace one part of the flour with almond flour.
- Spices: ground anise, ground cinnamon etc.
⚠️ You will find the quantities and complete instructions in the recipe card at the end of the page.
How to make Morrocan Chebakia
1 - Make the dough
- Place the dry ingredients, flour, pinch of salt, baking powder, vanilla sugar and granulated sugar in a large bowl.
- Mix with a tablespoon to obtain a homogeneous mixture.
- Then add the other liquid ingredients, the melted and cooled butter, the beaten egg, the white vinegar and the orange blossom water.
- Mix with your hands until you obtain a homogeneous dough ball without kneading it.
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Tip: You can also prepare the dough directly in your stand mixer using the dough hook, in a food processor or do it like here by hand.
2 - Shaping
- Roll out the chebakia dough on a work surface with a rolling pin to a thin thickness of about 2 mm.
- Using a pastry cutter cut out 8 x 10 cm rectangles.
- Re-cut the inside of the rectangles with the pastry cutter (leaving the edges) to get about 7 to 9 evenly spaced cuts lengthwise.
- Fold the rectangle in half across the width and pinch the ends together (see photo below).
- Separate the strips of dough to make a hole in the center, and push the top end inside.
- Shape the dough into a nice shape and repeat for all the other folded dough.
- Then place the folded chebakia on a large baking sheet and cover them with a tea towel until ready to cook.
Tip: Do not use any flour or fat to roll out the dough, the thinner it is, the lighter and crispier your cakes will be, so if you can use an Italian dough machine to have a very thin dough.
3 - Cooking
- Heat neutral vegetable oil in a deep frying pan, pan or skillet until it boils.
- Lower the heat and plunge the chebakia into the hot oil and fry until golden on both sides.
- Remove the chebakia cookies with a slotted spoon to drain them and place them on paper towels to remove excess fat.
Tip: Use enough oil to completely cover the chebakia.
4 - Honey bath
- In a large saucepan, place the sugar syrup (or honey) and add the orange blossom water and lemon juice.
- Heat the syrup for a few minutes on a medium heat and stir with a spoon to obtain a smooth, liquid mixture.
- Remove from the heat and dip the chebakias into the sugar syrup and coat them well in the mixture.
- Drain the cakes and place them on a wire rack or in a sieve to catch any honey that drips off.
- Sprinkle a few toasted sesame seeds on top of the chebakia and enjoy with a glass of mint tea.
Storage and freeze
At room temperature: You can keep the chebakia for up to 2 weeks, placed in a storage box with an airtight container box to keep them fresh.
In the freezer: You can also store them in the freezer for up to 3 months in storage bags or in a box with a lid.
Let the chebakia defrost slowly at room temperature.
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PrintChebakia
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 30 pieces
Description
Recipe for Morrocan chebakia cookies, small crispy cakes soaked in a sugar syrup and decorated with sesame seeds (for about 30 small cakes)
Ingredients
Chebakia dough
- 500 g (4 cups) Flour - all-purpose
- 150 g (⅔ cup) Butter - unsalted melted and cooled
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 sachet of vanilla sugar - or 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp Sugar - granulated
- 1 tbsp. White vinegar
- 1 Egg - large at room temperature
- 1 - 2 tbsp. Orange blossom water - or water
Sugar syrup bath
- 500 ml (1 ½ cups) Sugar syrup or Honey
- 1-2 tbsp. Orange blossom water
- ½ Fresh lemon juice
- Golden sesame seeds for decoration
Instructions
Chebakia dough
- Place the dry ingredients, flour, pinch of salt, powdered sugar, vanilla sugar and baking powder in a large bowl.
- And mix with a tablespoon until you get a homogeneous mixture.Add the other ingredients, the white vinegar,
- the beaten egg and the orange blossom water.
- Mix with your hands until you succeed in gathering the dough and forming a homogeneous ball of dough (without kneading it too much).
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 20-30 minutes.
Shaping
- Roll out the dough with a rolling pin on a work surface (not floured and without adding fat) to a thickness of 2-3 mm (use a pasta machine to roll out the dough as thinly as possible)
- Use a pastry wheel to form 8 x 10 cm rectangles.
- Then mark strips inside the rectangles with the rolling pin (7 cuts to get about 8-9 strips including edges)
- Fold the rectangle in 2 on the width and pinch the ends (see picture)
- Separate the strips in 2 to have a hole in the center and put the top end inside this hole.
- Shape the chebakia into a nice shape and place it on a large plate.
Cooking
- Bring neutral oil to a boil in a deep fryer, saucepan or skillet.
- Dip the chebakia into the hot oil and cook for 2-3 minutes until golden brown.
- Drain the cakes and place them on paper towels.
Syrup
- Mix the sugar syrup with the orange blossom water and the lemon juice in a large saucepan.
- Dip the chebakia in the sugar syrup until they are well soaked, then drain on a wire rack.
- Sprinkle with golden sesame seeds and enjoy!
Notes
Storage: Up to 2 weeks in a storage box with a tight-fitting lid and up to 3 months in the freezer.
For more flavor, you can replace a small amount of the flour with ground sesame seeds.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: oriental pastries
- Cuisine: Morocan
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