Ma’amoul

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The origin of these cookies is not clear, as well as the time when they started to be made, but it is one of the oldest and most common types of cookies in the Arab countries and the entire Levant. Similar cookies are made in Turkey and Egypt, and their production has also spread to other countries. These are semolina butter cookies filled with sweet nut or date filling, almonds, or a mixture of them. I made my cookies with just such a mixture. These cookies are often flavored with either rose water or orange blossom water.

Preparation time: 2 hours
Level: Easy
Quantity: About 35 cookies

Ingredients:
Dough:
350 g wheat semolina
150 g wheat flour
200 g of melted butter or ghee
0.5 teaspoon of baking powder
0.25 teaspoons of sea salt
2 tbsp orange blossom water
50 ml of milk or vegetable milk
100 g of powdered sugar

Filling:
250 g dates without stones
200 g of pistachios
200 g of almond flour
50 g light syrup
2 tbsp orange blossom water

Preparation:

  1. Mix wheat semolina and flour with melted butter and leave overnight so that the semolina can rest and become softer.
  2. The next day, add salt, baking powder, milk, and orange blossom water to the dough. Mix to a smooth dough
  3. To make the filling, add dates, pistachios, syrup, and orange blossom water to a food processor. Crush until smooth. Pistachios may remain in larger pieces.
  4. Put the resulting mixture in a bowl and add almond flour. Mix to a smooth paste. The filling can also be made from only dates and only pistachios.
  5. Shape the filling into balls with a diameter of about 1.5 cm.
  6. Shape the dough into balls about 3 cm in size, press flat in the palm of your hand, and place a filling ball on the resulting dough disk wrap the filling into the dough, roll it into a ball, and press a beautiful shape on the ball with a special ma’amoul mold. If there is no special mold, you can shape the surface of the cookie with a fork or a wooden stick.
  7. Carefully place the cookies next to each other on an oven pan covered with baking paper and bake at 180 degrees C for 20-22 minutes until the bottom side of the cookies starts to turn slightly brown.
  8. Cool the cookies completely, sprinkle powdered sugar on top, and store in an airtight container.
    Ready!!