Ma’moul (Lebanese stuffed cookies)
Ma’moul cookies are fragrant delights stuffed with walnuts, pistachios or dates and made with three different shapes of molds to help you recognize the flavor of the filling that is hidden inside the cookie. They are very popular in Lebanon and the Middle East and usually prepared to celebrate holidays like Easter and Eid. They are scrumptious, delicate and will melt in your mouth.
Ma’moul (Lebanese stuffed cookies)
Yield: 20 Cookings
Ingredients
For the dough
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cups semolina
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp fast- acting dried yeast
- 1 tsp rose water
For the pistachio filling
- 1/2 cup raw pistachios
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp rose water
For the walnut filling
- 1/2 cup walnuts
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp orange blossom water
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the semolina and the sugar.
- Mix well then cover and remove from the heat. Let stand for 3 hours at room temperature.
- Prepare the filling of your choice or all of them if you like to have a variety.
- Put the dates in a saucepan and add 1 tbsp of water. Cook until softened then stir in the spices.
- Place the pistachios, sugar and rose water in a food processor and mix until well combined. Set aside.
- Place the walnuts, sugar and orange blossom water in a food processor and mix until well combined. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (160 C).
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Return the rested semolina mixture to low heat for a few minutes to loosen it.
- Add the flour, yeast and rose water along with 2 tbsp of water.
- With your wet hands, knead until you get a homogeneous dough. It might take a few minutes. If you feel that the dough is dry you can add more water and keep kneading until you get a pliable dough.
- Take a small ball of the dough (equivalent to 1 1/2 tbsp) and flatten it into a 4-inch round disk between your hands.
- Put 1 tbsp of filling inside the disk then pinch it together to shape a ball.
- Dust the ball with flour and press it into a ma’moul mold.
- Tap the mold on a floured work space to release the cookie then place it on the prepared cookie sheet.
- Repeat with the remaining dough and filling or fillings.
- Bake in the heated oven for around 30 minutes until golden.
- Remove from the oven and let cool completely at room temperature.
