Maamoul are tender, buttery cookies with a sweet fruit filling. Make this recipe for date-filled semolina cookies to have a good time the holidays!

Ramsha Baig

Baking bread, cakes, cookies and other sweet treats is a holiday tradition that many of us participate in. Whether it’s simple treats like pistachio brittle and, or more elaborate desserts like or basbousa , gifting homemade foods are a thoughtful gift.

Maamoul Cookies

Cuisine: Middle Eastern

Muslims enjoy eating maamoul after sundown during Ramadan, their 30-day religious holiday of prayer and intermittent fasting.

Similarly, Christians enjoy the cookies as a treat during the days leading up to the Lenten fast, as well as on Easter Sunday. 

In Jewish communities, maamoul cookies are often made for the Purim, Rosh Hashanah, and Hanukkah holidays.

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

Semolina flour- This coarse, pale yellow flour is made from durum wheat, that’s the same product used to make pasta and couscous. Semolina flour may be very excessive in protein, so it’s an excellent product to apply for baking desserts and cookies.
Floor mahlab- This optionally available factor also goes via the names mahleb and mahlepi. it’s made from the distilled seeds of St. Lucie cherries. It has cherry flavor, with notes of vanilla, roses, and almonds. it’s utilized in lots of center eastern and Mediterranean dessert recipes.
Orange water- This fragrant water is made by means of distilling the flower blossoms of orange bushes. if you’re not able to find it, properly substitutes are 1-2 drops of orange oil, or a 1:1 ratio of orange liqueur. As a closing motel, use freshly squeezed orange juice.
Dates- Make sure to get pitted Medjool dates, or in case you select figs, the ones may be used rather
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Maamoul Instructions and Recipe Tips

Make the sugar syrup. Make sure to make the syrup first. This manner, it’ll have sufficient time to calm down before you incorporate it into the opposite cookie ingredients.
Make the date filling. if you have a small meals processor or food chopper, they work better than cutting the dates with a knife.
Make and sit back the cookie dough. Put the semolina and all motive flours right into a massive bowl and use your palms to paintings the butter in. another (much less messy) choice is to cream them collectively on medium electricity inside the bowl of a stand mixer equipped with the paddle attachment.

After the butter and flours are blended, slowly pour in the cooled syrup and work the dough along with your arms or combine on medium-excessive speed until it is smooth, pliable and smooth to shape. Area the dough within the freezer for 15 minutes to company up in order that it is less complicated to mildew.

Filling and Shaping the Cookies

Shape the maamoul cookies. Scoop a walnut sized piece of dough and roll it into a ball. using your thumb, make a dent inside the center of every and fill with a teaspoon of the date filling. lightly press dough up and around filling to seal, roll into a ball.

Press into a maamoul mold (or flatten slightly into disc and make decorative crosshatch marks with fork on top). turn the mould over and lightly faucet it at the counter surface to dislodge the cookie and vicinity it onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

Repeat with remaining dough.

Pan and bake. Arrange the maamoul cookies an inch apart on the pan. Bake for 20-25 mins or until they’re a light golden shade.

Cool before dusting with powdered sugar.

Maamoul Cookies FAQ

Are maamoul cookies the same as kahk?
Not exactly. Maamoul are semolina cookies, typically filled with pistachios, walnuts or fruit, such as dates or figs. Many people associate them with Egyptian kahk cookies, but they are not the same dessert. Kahk are butter cookies made only with all purpose flour, and they usually don’t have a filling.

How many calories are in a date ma’amoul?
When made according to our recipe, each date-filled semolina cookie will have approximately 156 calories.

Do you need a cookie mold to make mamool cookies?
The Middle Eastern cookies are often made with a decorative cookie mould, but it’s purely optional.
If you don’t have a cookie press or cookie mold, simply use your fingers to flatten the dough in the palm of your hand. After adding and encasing your desired filling, you can use the tines of a fork to decorate the tops of the cookies.