Maamoul are hands down my absolute favourite cookie on the planet!
These Middle Eastern treats are essentially melt-in-your-mouth semolina-based shortbread cookies filled with pistachio, walnuts, or dates. They are popular after months of fasting for holidays of Ramadan or Lent, as well as Easter, Purim, Rosh Hashanah, etc.
Traditionally, maamoul bi fistok (pistachio-filled) are elongated and covered in powdered sugar, maamoul bi joz (walnut-filled) are round domes covered in powdered sugar, and maamoul bi siwa (date-filled) are disc-shaped with no powdered sugar, but are cooked a bit longer for a golden tinge.
Making them is an art and requires a lot of patience. First, the dough must be the right texture to melt in your mouth. Then, you need to make sure the cookie is not too thick so you can have as much filling as possible. You shape the cookies in beautiful wood-carved molds that are specifically made for this purpose. Finally, you need to make sure that they bake thoroughly, but remain as pale as possible (unless you are making the date-filled ones).
I normally buy these pre-made from my favourite Middle Eastern grocery stores (Mid-East Foods and Adonis) and they are delicious. Making this from scratch, however, has given me a whole new appreciation for my favourite cookie!
Everyone seems to have their own different family recipe, but I combined a few different recipes together to closely resemble the flavours and textures of the ones that I normally buy. I highly recommend making the fillings at least a day or two in advance. Not only with this help the flavours really pop, it will make preparation 100000000x easier/faster.
I used locally harvested semolina from Almanac Grain. You can find it here. I also used this flour when I made homemade Lorighattas!
I’m very pleased with how this maamoul cookies turned out and I plan on making them again soon.
INGREDIENTS
For the Dough
3 cups semolina flour (preferably fine, but coarse also works)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup softened butter
3/4 cup icing sugar + a couple tbsp for dusting
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup orange blossom water
For the Filling
2 heaping tablespoon date paste (check out my easy DIY here)
2 cups pistachios, lightly salted
2 cups walnuts, toasted
4 cardamom pods, crushed
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
INSTRUCTIONS
Filling
- Crumble nuts in food processor until coarsely chopped. Mix with rest of ingredients (easiest to do this by hand). You basically just want enough date paste to hold the nuts together. Set aside for a day or two to develop flavours.
Dough
- In a large bowl, place the semolina, flour, icing sugar, softened butter, baking powder. Mix well until dough resembles sand.
- Add milk and orange blossom water. Form a ball of dough. It should be smooth, not sticky — similar in texture to new playdough. If dough is too dry, add a tablespoon or two more milk and orange blossom water (equal parts).
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let stand for 1 hour at room temperature.
- Form balls roughly the size of a golf ball. If you are using an elongated mold like I did, it’s easier if they are oblong.
- Press into maamoul mold with fingers, creating deep indent. There should be excess dough coming out of the sides. Press the excess between your fingers to thin it out.
- Stuff indent with filling, packing well. Then, fold over the excess dough from the sides to cover the filling.
- Turn the mold over and give it a good tap or two to unmold. If the cookie is stuck, try gently peeling it out. It shouldn’t break too easily.
- Place the maamoul on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and cook in a preheated oven at 350°F (180°C) for 15-20 minutes. Pastries must remain very white.
- Take them out of the oven and sprinkle with icing sugar. Maamoul can be kept for about a week in an airtight container.
- Enjoy!
