Algerian Cookies: Griwich

The little bodega near our house, where we often pick up milk and yogurt and drain cleaner (local plumbing lacks some basic construction concepts), carries boxes of cookies made from a local bakery. There are your classic Arab cookies - the dome-shaped shortbread gharabiya, the semolina cookies sandwiched with date paste (makroud), European linzer cookies, and some more local varieties.

This local cookie is called griwich, and is made of a simple semolina dough which is cut in a series of strips, twisted around, deep fried, and then coated in honey. I don't usually like the fried and syruped cookies, things like Syrian awameh and those Indian gulab jamun, they are always too heavy to my taste. However these are surprisingly light and manage to keep a good crispiness even when stored for a few days. You can see them being made here - they also sell little plastic cookie cutters to cut the griwich shape.