Nut or Date filled Ma'amoul (Middle Eastern Cookies)
I have always had a soft spot for anything flavored with cinnamon and orange blossom water. You probably can tell by my addiction to baklawa. The aroma is quite literally heavenly, to me.
It’s probably why i’m such a huge fan of ma’amoul. That, and the flaky and buttery cookie make these little dudes super dangerous to be around. Every time i make a trip to the Middle East i bring back my weight in ma’amoul and proceed to eat them all in a single sitting. I actually have a really funny story about a friend of mine who almost ate an entire (60 piece) box of ma’amoul i brought back in a whole sitting. Story for another day though! So here’s my issue with ma’amoul. It’s traditionally made with lots and lots of samneh or butter. Like a nice bucket full. Im only kind of exaggerating. Also, the traditional way to make ma’amoul is time consuming and hard on your hands, especially if you have arthritis like this old lady does (another true story, ive had arthritis since i was 18). So i’ve been creating and testing this ma’amoul recipe for a while now. Trying to perfect it so that when i do, in fact, eat 60 ma’amoul cookies in a single sitting, i dont feel as bad as i used to. You want to know my trick? I replaced the butter with coconut oil! Room temperature, hard coconut oil is PERFECT for these cookies. When it’s combined with the semolina and flour, it creates little pie dough like pebbles that help in the flakiness of the ma’amoul!
Additionally, I want to chat a bit about the shape of the ma’amoul. Traditionally, you would use a little tong like device to clip the ma’amoul into intricate designs and shapes making each baker’s ma’amoul unique and beautiful in it’s own way. But honestly, aint no body got time for that. At least i dont. So I use a handy dandy ma’amoul mold which makes creating these little dudes SUPER simple and fool proof. You quite literally pop the flattened dough (i’ll walk you through the process below on how to do this) into the mold, fill up the center with your filling and fold the edges into the center, closing off the cookie so that none of your center oozes out during the baking process. Finally, you’ll give it a gentle press to ensure the outside has had some contact with the mold design and you smack it on the counter to remove and reveal the gorgeous design on the outside of your cookie! If you’re looking for some molds, you can find them on Amazon by searching for “maamoul mold” or at your local Middle Eastern market! Now… ma’amoul is super easy, but takes a bit of practice. Im hoping i can cut down your practice time by sharing some easy to follow tips below!
Tips & Tricks for Ma’amoul Making
When you combine your ingredients together, the best way to ensure that your dough will be flaky and buttery is to get your hands in the dough and work the coconut oil and the rest of the ingredients into the semolina and flour mixture.
The first thing you want to do is to break apart any solid coconut oil pieces with your fingers (i like to use a glove for this).
The best way to work the dough is to put some gloves on (totally optional but i don’t like getting my hands super dirty) and take a scoop of the mixture of ingredients and rub your hands together to gently create peals and work the oil into the dough. Do this over and over until the dough comes together easily.
if the dough is still too crumbly and dry after working in your wet ingredients, go ahead and add 1 tbsp of water at a time until it’s a soft and pliable texture!
Let the dough rest for 30 minutes before forming your balls for the ma’amoul cookies.
When you begin forming the balls for the ma’amoul, note that the ball of dough feels flaky when you remove a piece but once you work between your fingers, the warmth of your hands will make the dough pliable and easy to work with.
To form the cavity inside the ball of dough, stick your finger in the center of the ball and work the ball around and around with your finger and continue to spin the dough around in order to thin out the dough throughout the sides. This will form a cavity that you can stuff the filling inside. After thinning it out, the result will look like a cup.
If the sides of the ma’amoul cup begin to flake and fall apart this means that your dough is too dry. Reapply a tbsp of water and rework.
You can fill the ma’amoul cookie with any filling you like. I have listed here the walnut, pistachio and date filling recipes.
Once you’ve closed the cookie, apply pressure to the bottom to ensure the mold has had a chance to imprint on the cookie. Flip the mold and hit the top of it against a counter top. This will release the cookie from the mold.
Don’t be discouraged if you can’t get it right off the bat. Here’s a video i found on youtube of the old school way of creating the ma’amoul. If anything, it’ll give you some inspiration and a little bit of a visual of what im referring to when i say make the ma’amoul cups.
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Total time: 1 1/2 hour
Yield: about 35 cookies
Ingredients
1. 1 cup fine semolina
2. 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3. 3/4 cups room temperature coconut oil
4. 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
5. 1/4 cup sugar
6. 3 tbsp orange blossom water
7. 3 tbsp milk
8. 1 tbsp water
9. 1/2 - 3/4 cup powdered sugar (dependent upon your preference)
*** choose the filling of your choice. If you want to make more than one type, half or third the filling recipes***
for the date filling
1. 8 oz package date paste
2. 1/4 tsp cinnamon
3. 1 tbsp orange blossom water
for the pistachio filling
1. 1 1/2 cups pistachios
2. 2 tbsp sugar
3. 1 tbsp orange blossom water
4. 1 tsp cinnamon
for the walnut filling
1. 1 1/2 cups walnut
2. 2 tbsp sugar
3. 1 tbsp orange blossom water
4. 1 tsp cinnamon
For the nut fillings:
1. add all of the ingredients to a food processor and process until the nuts have broken down and become small pieces. The walnut filling will look flaky but the pistachio filling will look almost paste-like when it’s ready.
for the date filling
1. in a small mixing bowl or food processor, add the ingredients and mix or process until the paste is well combined with the orange blossom water and cinnamon.
Method for the Ma’amoul
1. In a medium sized mixing bowl add the semolina, flour, coconut oil, cinnamon, sugar and orange blossom water. Using your hands, work the dough to break up any large pieces of coconut oil and work into the dough. Massaging the dough between your hands is a great technique- i have given detailed instructions on how to do so above in my notes!
2. Continue to massage the flour and semolina until it appears crumbly but sticks together when pressure is applied. Allow to rest for 10 minutes.
3. Once the rest period is over, add the milk And water to the mixture and begin to work and kneed together until a dough ball forms. If there are crumbs that fall off, dont worry about it. You want the dough to resemble a ball but any small pieces/crumbs that don’t stick are okay to be left off.
3. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and place in the fridge to rest for an additional 30 minutes.
4. Once the dough has rested, remove the dough and begin forming small balls. The size of the ball will depend on the size of your ma’amoul mold so a bit of trial and error is necessary here.
5. Form all of your balls and keep them on a tray with a damp towel over them to prevent any drying of the dough.
6. preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
7. Once the dough balls are formed, you will begin shaping the cups by pressing your finger in the center of the ball and working the dough around your finger so a crevasse forms and the “cup” is thin.
8. Place your ma’amoul “cup” into your mold and stuff with your filling. Use your fingers to work the sides of the dough over the top to cover the filling and close up the cookie. Apply pressure once with your wrist and knock the mold on the countertop to remove the ma’amoul from the mold.
9. Lay the finished ma’amoul cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet. Once you’ve filled the baking sheet with cookies, bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. You want the bottom of the cookie to have a very light golden color and the tops to be pale and white.
10. Remove from the oven once cooked and allow to cool completely.
11. Once cooled, use a sieve and generously dust the tops of the cookies with powdered sugar. Store in an airtight container on the countertop for 1 week or in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks and enjoy!
