Maamoul Date Filled Cookies Recipes

MAAMOUL RECIPE

Steps:

• In a small bowl mix the yeast, 1 tsp sugar, and ¼ cup water. Set aside.
• In a bowl mix the semolina, ghee, butter, and vegetable oil. Let sit for ten minutes.
• Mix the flour, powdered milk, mastic, ginger, and baking powder into the semolina mixture.
• Add the yeast mixture, the ½ cup sugar, orange blossom water, and rosewater.
• Knead until a dough forms.
• Cover and place in the refrigerator for 50 minutes.
• Mix the date paste with the cinnamon and cardamom. Add a little hot water if necessary to make the date mixture more pliable.
• Preheat oven to 450°F (230°C).
• Make roughly 40 balls out of the dough, and 40 smaller balls of the date mixture.
• Press the date mixture into the dough and cover the bottom so the date does not show.
• Press dough and date filling into a maamoul mold. (If you do not have one, flatten the dough and filling until it resembles a filled cookie.) Place on a baking sheet.
• Bake Maamoul until edges are browned, five to ten minutes.
• Remove from oven when done and cool on the tray before moving the Maamoul to a cooling tray.

MA'AMOUL (LEBANESE DATE COOKIES)

Steps:

• Mix semolina flour, all-purpose flour, mahlab, and salt together in a large bowl. Work clarified butter into the dry ingredients with your fingertips until thoroughly incorporated. Cover bowl and let dough rest at room temperature, 8 hours to overnight.
• Pour milk into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave until just warm, about 15 seconds. Stir in sugar and yeast until dissolved. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
• Pour yeast mixture and orange blossom water over the dough and mix until evenly moistened. Pinch off a piece of dough and roll into a ball; it should hold its shape without cracking. Add more milk or orange blossom water if needed. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
• Sprinkle some flour over the ma'amoul molds and tap out the excess. Pinch off a walnut-sized piece of dough and roll into a ball. Press your thumb into the ball to create space for the filling. Work the edges with your fingers so the sides are even and fairly thin. Drop in a piece of date paste and pinch dough over it to seal.
• Place cookie into the mold cavity seam-side up. Press down so that the top is flush with edges of the mold. Trim off any excess dough. Invert the mold and tap it against your work surface to release the cookie. Repeat with remaining dough and date paste, arranging cookies 1 inch apart on the baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven, 1 baking sheet at a time, until edges and bottoms are golden but tops are still mostly pale, about 15 minutes.
• Sift powdered sugar over the cookies while still slightly warm. Let cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

MAAMOUL (DATE FILLED COOKIES)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F.

MA'AMOUL

Steps:

• For the dough: Put the semolina, flour, granulated sugar and baking powder in a large bowl and stir with a wooden spoon to combine. (It's important not to use your hands to make the dough because the natural heat of your hands will make the dough release oil, resulting in dry dough.) Mix in the ghee. The mixture will feel and look like crumbs. Add the milk slowly (2 tablespoons at a time) and mix to combine until you have a soft dough that you can make into small balls. It's best to add the milk slowly so the dough doesn't come together before all the milk is added.
• For the date filling: Put the baking dates, ghee, cinnamon and cardamom in a medium bowl and mix with a spoon until the ghee and spices are combined well with the dates. Rub some ghee or vegetable oil on your palms to avoid sticking and shape the date filling into 40 to 45 small balls for a small ma'amoul mold. If using a larger mold, shape the balls accordingly.
• Preheat the oven 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Roll the semolina dough into 40 to 45 balls as well.
• Flatten a semolina dough ball and place a date ball in the middle of it. Bring the dough together to cover the date ball and roll in your hands to smooth the cracks. Place the ball in the ma'amoul mold and gently press it so the pattern prints on it. Bang the mold against a cutting board to release the cookie and place it smooth-side down on the prepared baking sheet. If you don't own a mold, simply flatten the stuffed dough ball into a 1/2-inch-thick disk and make a simple pattern by pressing a fork gently on the dough to make a crisscross. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. You can place the cookies quite close to each other since they won't spread.
• Bake until the cookies are slightly golden brown around the edges, 18 to 20 minutes. Let them cool completely, then dust with confectioners' sugar if desired.

MAAMOUL: STUFFED DATE-ORANGE COOKIES

Steps:

• Dough: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• To make the filling: Puree the filling ingredients in a food processor until evenly combined, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove and set aside. Clean the processor bowl.
• Put the flour, baking powder, the 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar, and salt in the bowl of food processor and pulse 3 to 4 times to mix. Add the butter, oil, and milk pulsing until the dough just comes together. Take care not to overwork the dough; it will be slightly wet.
• Remove dough from the processor, and roll into 20 equally sized balls. In the palm of your hand, press and pat each ball of dough into a 2 3/4-inch round. Place a rounded teaspoon of filling in the center of each round and draw the edges up and around the filling. Pinch the dough together to make a sealed ball, and then carefully roll the cookie between your palms to make a smooth round ball. Press gently to flatten the cookie slightly, then place them seamed side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Gently prick the cookies with a fork or a wooden skewer in a decorative pattern taking care not to pierce the dough to the filling.
• Bake the cookies until firm and slightly puffed, and the tops are pale but the bottoms are just beginning to turn slightly golden, about 25 to 30 minutes. Dust generously with confectioners' sugar, cool and dust again.
• Apricot Golden Raisin Nut Filling:
• Puree in a food processor until evenly combined.
• Quince-Walnut Filling:
• Puree in a food processor until evenly combined.

DATE-FILLED SHORTBREAD COOKIES (MA'AMOUL)

Steps:

• Dough: In a small bowl, stir yeast and 1/2 teaspoon sugar into warm water; let stand until bubbly, about 5 minutes.
• In a large bowl, whisk together flours, mahleb, salt, mastic, and remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Gently mix in clarified butter until it is absorbed. In a small bowl, stir together yeast mixture and milk. Drizzle over flour mixture; using your hands or a rubber spatula, knead just until dough comes together and is moist but not wet. Cover; let stand at room temperature 2 hours.
• Filling: Meanwhile, pulse dates, butter, water, sugar, cinnamon, mahleb, and anise seeds in a food processor until a smooth paste forms. Cover and let stand until dough has rested.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop, scoop 1 heaping tablespoon of dough; roll into a ball. Press dough in the palm of your hand to form a well in the center. Place 1 scant teaspoon of filling in well. Pull up sides of dough to enclose, adding more dough if necessary. Firmly press dough into a ma'amoul mold. Invert mold; tap to release dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing about 1 inch apart. Refrigerate about 1 hour.
• Bake until beginning to turn golden around edges, 14 to 17 minutes. Transfer sheets to a wire rack; let cool completely.

LEBANON TRAVELER'S DATE COOKIES (MAMOUL)

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the water. Stir in the orange flower water, egg, and melted butter. Add the semolina and stir in, then sprinkle on the sugar and salt and stir. Add the flour and stir and turn to combine until crumbly but holds together when squeezed. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, prepare the filling: Place all the ingredients in a food processor and process to a paste. Transfer to a bowl and set aside, covered.
• Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F Set out an 18 by 12 inch baking sheet near your work surface.
• To shape the mamoul, use a tablespoon to scoop up a full level tablespoon of dough. Place it in the palm of one hand and use the thumb and fingers of the other hand to flatten it into a nearly 3-inch-diameter round. Scoop up 1 1/2 teaspoons of the filling and place it on the center of the round. Pull the edges up to cover the filling, then roll the cookie lightly between your palms to make a ball. Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling, placing the cookies about 1/2 inch apart. Prick each cookie decoratively with a fork. Brush the tops with a little milk.
• Bake until touched at the edges with golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer immediately to a wire rack to cool. Makes 2 dozen rich cookies, either round mounds or high decorated ovals, filled with aromatic date paste.
• NOTE: This recipe the instructions for round mamoul decorated only by pricking with a fork. In Syria and Lebanon, and in some specialty grocery stores in North America, you can find elaborately carved mamoul molds. If you have a mold, oil it with olive oil and then oil again lightly every 3 or 4 mamoul. Fill the mold almost full of dough and use your thumb to press down in the center. This will make a hollow in the center and will also give you thin walls of dough around the edges. You may need less filling, say 1 teaspoon each. Place the filling in the center, then fold the thin walls over and pinch off any excess dough. Pull the shaped mamoul up gently from the mold and transfer to the baking sheet, decorative side up. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
• Semolina, a coarse grind of durum wheat with small, irregular yellow granules, is used to make pasta. It is also used as bread flour in Puglia, and in Tunisia and Morocco.
• Semolina flour, also known as durum flour, is finely ground. It is very high in gluten. It can, like semolina, be used to make bread, but because it is so high in gluten, the bread dough will be stiff and the bread fairly tough.
• Home Baking.