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Dessert

Lebanese Cookies

A sweet cookie made with butter, oil, sugar, orange juice, baking powder, baking soda, flour, honey, and walnuts, glazed with a syrup.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Lebanese Cookies

Oven350°F
Time20 to 25 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. In a mixer bowl, beat the cooking oil into the butter until blended, then beat in the sugar.

  2. Add the orange juice, baking powder and baking soda, and mix well.

  3. Add the flour a little at a time to make a soft dough.

  4. Shape the dough into 2-inch ovals and place them on an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake and cool

  1. Bake at 350°F for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden.

  2. Cool the pastries on a rack.

Syrup and finish

  1. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, combine the 3/4 cup sugar, honey and 1/2 cup water, bring to a boil, then boil gently, uncovered, for 5 minutes.

  2. Dip the cooled pastries into the warm syrup.

  3. Sprinkle immediately with the nuts.

  4. Dry on a wire rack.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

877Calories
15 gProtein
29 gFat
140 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Honey1 tbsp (21g)64
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Walnut1 walnut half (4g)26

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Orange + walnuttop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  3. Orange + honeytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,068 recipes

    Shared aroma: pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Flour + walnuttop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + honeytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,327 recipes

    Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Forms the structure of the soft dough that holds the shaped pastries together.
Butter
Adds richness and a tender texture to the dough.
Cooking oil
Adds moisture, keeping the baked pastries tender.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking, helping the pastries rise and lighten.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in the orange juice to produce gas, aiding rise.
Honey
Adds sweetness and moisture to the syrup that the pastries absorb.

The step that matters

Dip the pastries after they cool, and sprinkle nuts right away. Cooled pastries absorb warm syrup gradually, while hot ones can turn soggy or crumble. Nuts stick best while the syrup is still sticky, so sprinkle them immediately after dipping.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, honey, walnut):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Pearfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, honey, walnut. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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