Classic Armenian Gata Cookies
Original, very tasty, made from everyday ingredients - perfect for a celebration. Armenian gata is a classic cookie baked across the Caucasus: crumbly outside, soft inside, with a sweet filling of sugar, flour, and butter. I make it with matsoni, but kefir or ryazhenka works too.
Updated : 19 January, 2026
Easy
About 45 min.
Ingredients
Dough
480 grams
Wheat flour
250 milliliters
Matsoni
200 grams
Butter
2
Eggs
0.5 teaspoon
Salt
1 teaspoon
Baking soda
10 grams
Vanilla sugar
Filling
160 grams
Wheat flour
250 grams
Sugar
150 grams
Butter
Table
Table of volume measurements:
- teaspoon - 5 ml
- dessert spoon - 10 ml
- tablespoon - 20 ml
- glass - 200 ml
Preparation
Step 1
How to make Armenian gata: prepare the ingredients. Start with the filling. Sift wheat flour into a bowl and make a well. Melt the butter and cool it to room temperature. Pour the butter into the well in the flour.
Step 2
Rub the butter and flour together until you get moist crumbs, then add the sugar.
Step 3
Mix. At this step you can add 2 tbsp honey and 100 g walnuts ground in a blender. In the original recipe, honey and nuts aren’t added, but I did - tastes better to me.
Step 4
Make the dough. Chill the butter and cut it into pieces. Sift 2/3 of the flour into a large bowl (this aerates it and helps the bake turn out lighter). Make a well, add the cold butter pieces, and chop the butter with a knife, mixing it with the flour. You can do this on a board or countertop; I find it easier in a big bowl.
Step 5
You should get floury granules about the size of buckwheat. If you worked on the counter, transfer the mixture to a bowl now. Separate one egg white from the yolk. Save the yolk to brush the cookies.
Step 6
Gather the granules into a mound. Make a well, crack in 1 whole egg and 1 egg white.
Step 7
Gently mix the eggs with a fork and add the matsoni.
Step 8
Dissolve the baking soda in the matsoni and stir - foam will appear. Then add salt and vanilla sugar to the matsoni. I do this right in the bowl with the dough mixture.
Step 9
Carefully pulling the butter-flour mixture from the edges, knead a soft dough.
Step 10
Add the remaining flour as needed, knead, and shape into a ball. You may need more or less flour than I do - go by the dough texture. The dough and filling can be made ahead and kept in the fridge, covered with plastic wrap, for a few days.
Step 11
Divide the dough into 2 parts. Roll each into rectangles 2-3 mm thick.
Step 12
Spread the filling over the rolled dough, leaving a 1 cm border around the edges.
Step 13
Roll the dough with the filling into a tight log.
Step 14
Brush the log with the egg yolk and prick it in several places with a fork.
Step 15
With a sharp knife, cut into pieces 2-2.5 cm thick. I sprinkled the tops with leftover filling, but you don’t have to. Using a spatula or wide knife, transfer the cookies to a parchment-lined baking tray, leaving 2-3 cm between them. Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C / 392°F for about 20 minutes. Time may vary - bake until nicely golden.
Author note
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