Rifat (ريفات)

Everything here depends on how thin you roll the dough. Rifat should snap lightly under the teeth, not puff into a soft little bread. The oil makes the dough tender, the orange juice gives it fragrance and a little lift, and the anise leaves that clean, sweet warmth at the end of a meal.

This is a biscuit for after the table has already eaten well. You put out a plate with tea or a small digestif, and people keep reaching while the conversation loosens. It belongs to the Jewish-Moroccan branch of des cuisines marocaines (the many Moroccan cuisines), where celebration cookies often travel well, keep well, and feed more people than you counted.

Roll patiently. Prick the dough so it doesn't balloon, bake until pale gold at the edges, then let the biscuits cool fully before judging them. Crispness comes as they settle. Make a tin full. A table is a door you leave open, and biscuits like these are how it stays open after dinner.