Ma’amoul – Middle Eastern Cookies

Stuffed with Pistachios, Dates &

I recently called my father in search of a ma’amoul recipe. A bit perplexed he proclaimed in Arabic:
“Why do you want to trouble yourself with making ma’amoul. It’s so much work and anyway I don’t
like ma’amoul. Really it’s too much effort for nothing. Shou baddeek bi ha shaghle”

See my father is not a baker. A fantastic cook but definitely not a baker. Also, the majority of people in
Lebanon don’t make ma’amoul anymore given the widespread availability of good quality sweet shops
that dot the country.

Ma’amoul are small shortbread pastries filled with pistachios, walnuts and dates. They are popular
around the Middle East where they are available year around although they are mostly consumed during
different religious holidays. For example, in Lebanon the Christians consume them at Easter and the
Muslims during Ramadan. Ma’amoul cookies are extremely moreish and once you pop you really can’t
stop! I love the fact that they are a combination of sweet and savory.
As you may know I don’t reside in Lebanon anymore so I’m not lucky enough to have these little
beauties available to me at a moment’s notice. And even if I did, I would still choose to make them since
I actually enjoy baking and find it soothing, relaxing and therapeutic. After all they really don’t take
more than two to three hours to make and they are also one of my favorite sweets so I can’t particularly
understand what my father was going on about.

A quick phone call to one of my aunts and I was on my way to making Ma’amoul. In keeping with my
impulsive and tinkering nature, I made a few changes to the recipe. I was interested to use ferkha (farina)
instead of only semolina as well as adding mahlab as I’ve seen it used several times before in other
recipes. I also omitted the rose water and replaced it with orange blossom water.

Update: The molds can be found in any Middle Eastern specialty store. For those in the U.S they are
available for purchase in the U.S from here. For those of you in the rest of the world you may try here.
Ma'amoul - Middle Eastern Cookies Stuffed with Pistachios,
Dates & Walnuts

Author: Bethany
Serves: Makes 75

Ingredients
For the dough
 850g semolina or about 5.5 cups

 200g of ferkha (farina or potato starch) or about 1.5 cups

 450g of butter, melted

 250ml or 1 cup of orange blossom water

 200g of caster sugar or 1 cup

 1 teaspoon mahlab

 3 maamoul molds (oval for pistachios, circle for walnuts and the one that resembles the
sun for dates)

 Powdered sugar for sprinkling

Walnut Filling
 200g walnuts (about 2 cups)

 80g of sugar (about ¼ cup)

 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

 1 tablespoon of orange blossom water

Pistachio Filling
 200g pistachios (about 2 cups)

 80g of sugar (about ¼ cup)

 1 tablespoon of orange blossom water

Date Filling
 250g dates, pitted

 1 tablespoon butter, melted

 ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

 50g of walnuts (about ½ cup)

3.

Now slowly add the orange blossom water a tablespoon at a time, kneading and working it into a
soft sticky dough. It’s not supposed to stick to your fingers though. Cover the dough and let it sit
2 hours.
While the dough rests, prepare the fillings. I used a food processor and just whizzed everything
for a minute or two.

Knead dough one more time and then divide the dough into three even quantities.

Roll out each third into a long thin rod like form. Each third will be used for a filling.

Pinch off small lumps off the dough, I pinched off about 1 inch pieces. Using the palm of your
hand flatten the dough and make sure it is quite thin but not too thin that it will tear.
Place the flatten dough into the mold of choice and add the filling associated to that mold, gently
pressing down and make sure it’s quite compact. Don’t exert too much pressure as you don’t
want to tear the dough. You can use the mold you like for the filling you like but traditionally
these molds and their designs have been used as standards so that one can determine the
filling.
Bring the edges together and seal well. Now pinch off any excess dough, gently remove from the
mold and roll into a ball.
 Dip the ball in farina and then press into the mold. Release by tapping the mold on the
table to remove the ma’amoul cookie.

22

Your ma’amoul cookie should look like the below, clearly stamped with the design. Dust a baking
tray with semolina or farina and bake in a preheated oven 400F/200C/6G until the sides are
slightly pinkish in color. It will vary depending on oven. It took me about 20 mn. Leave aside to
cool then sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.
Note: there are also two different ways to make these cookies. I like to add the filling
using the mold because I found it to yield more consistent results. However, you could
just flatten the dough in the palm of your hand while making a hole in the paste then
stuff it with the filling, seal the edges, roll it into a ball then finally press it into the
molds for shape. And if you don’t have the molds, you could just use a fork to create
design of choice that will differentiate the cookies from each other depending on
filling.
Ma’amoul cookies with the date filling are not sprinkled with powdered sugar. Baking
time will vary but Ma’amoul should spend the least time in the oven to avoid the
drying. Therefore a hot oven is important to keeping their baking time short.
Ma’amoul cookies will keep, unrefrigerated but well sealed for up to one month, if they
last longer than a day.
 1.

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