Place the ghee and powdered sugar in a large bowl, mix together with a spatula to integrate together ; add the flour a little at a time, and start mixing with the tips of your fingers. The mixture will first crumble, continue kneading until you have a dough of one texture, knead for more until it has a malleable texture. Alternatively, you can use your stand mixer. Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes and up to 12 hours. This will help prevent spreading, since it is a problem some people face when making saniora and ghraybe, this will guarantee they will keep their shape and won’t spread.

Preheat oven to160 ° C/ 320 °F with a rack in the center of the oven.

Line two baking trays with parchment paper.

Place the raw pistachios in a food processor and pulse a few times to considerably grind the pistachios. Transfer to a bowl, add the sugar and ghee, and mix well to fully incorporate.

Knead well the dough again, you will notice that chilling has solidified the fat in the dough, this will guarantee that the sanioura will keep their shape and won’t spread.

Divide the dough into two equal portions. Use half of the dough to make pistachio filled saniora and keep the second half to make plain sanioura.

Unlike the plain sanioura that needs no mold to shape it, pistachio filled sanioura gets a specific stainless steel oval mold, used for shaping and forming it . Last year I bought the mold, back in Lebanon from Saida. take a small handful of the dough, roughly the size of ping-pong ball. Make a hole in the center, with your finger fill the hole with a teaspoon of the pistachio filling. Seal the hole patching the dough together and roll it into a ball. Transfer into the mold, pressing it lightly in to level it up with. Invert the mold and strike it a couple of times to release the cookie; you need to lightly dust the mold with flour before filling, this will facilitate the release of the pistachio filled sanioura out of the mold. When imprinting the pistachio sanioura dough with the mold, stop frequently to dust the patterns from the extra flour on top. Watch the video tutorial!

Bake in the oven for about 12-15 minutes; rotate your cookie sheet: Ovens in bakeries have rotating racks that makes it possible to cook everything evenly! This is not the case in home ovens, so it is advisable to rotate your cookie sheets halfway through baking for even cooking. Check on cookies at 12 minutes of baking, you can cook them longer if necessary, note that the cookies should not brown on top. The only way to know for sure that they’re done is to roll one over and see that it’s just slightly brown on the bottom. Remove from the oven and leave them to cool down completely.

To make the plain sanioura: Take a small handful of the dough, roughly the size of a ping pong ball. Roll by rubbing it with your palms. Lightly flatten it to a thickness of 2 cm/ 0.8 inch. Try to shape to a rhombus by delicately shaping the edges, watch the video tutorial! Place on a sheet lined with parchment paper, leaving some space between one another. Bake for 12 -15 minutes, as mentioned in making the pistachio sanioura, the cookies should not brown on top. The only way to know for sure that they’re done is to roll one over and see that it’s just slightly brown on the bottom. Remove from the oven and leave them to cool down before transfering to a serving plate. Serve with a cup of Lebanese coffee. Heavenly!