Ma’amoul, Filled Cookies from the Middle East

Ma’amoul is the Arabic word for “filled.” To me, it evokes filling the mouth. It seems to me that people in this part of the world are especially fond of stuffed foods. Kids and grownups alike love vegetables and leaves filled with rice/meat combinations, from artichokes to zucchini - savory turnovers like sambusak with chickpeas (or meat, or potatoes) inside them, and sweets filled with dried fruit or nuts. Even dried fruit stuffed with nuts.

I wasn’t looking for them, but when I found molds for ma’moul cookies in Nazereth, I was a goner.

How could I resist using those hand-held molds to create cookies? How could they not be delicious, being perfumed with rosewater and filled with dates as they are? Or walnuts, or pistachios. In fact, the design on the mold traditionally indicates which filling the cookie has, so you can choose between them without having to take a bite first. Not that biting into a tender, crumbly ma’amoul – in the interests of science – is any great punishment.

I loved making these cookies, handling dough scented with rosewater. It was fun to fill the molds and knock them out onto my baking pan, seeing the beautiful little design imprinted on each cookie as it came out. Making them by hand is easy, though. Here, I’ll show you.

Ma’amoul, Middle-Eastern Stuffed Cookies

Yield: 24 ma’amoul

Preparation time for the dough:

10 minutes  plus 1 hour resting time

Ingredients for the dough:

½ teaspoon active dry yeast

¼ cup warm water

1 tablespoon rosewater or orange flower water

1 large egg

½ cup unsalted butter or margarine, melted and cooled

1-1/2 cups coarse semolina

2 tablespoons sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar for dusting over finished cookies

Method:

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the water.

2 Add the rose- or orange flower water.

3. Add the egg and melted, cooled butter or margarine.

4. Add the semolina and mix.

5. Add the sugar and salt; mix.

6. Add the flour, mixing till the dough holds together in a ball.

7. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 1 hour.

Ingredients for Date Filling:

¾ cup pitted dates

3 tablespoons sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons orange flower water plus 1-1/2 teaspoons rose water

Or 3 teaspoons either flower water

Method for Date Filling:

Place all the date filling ingredients in a food processor and process to a paste. Put the paste in a small bowl and set aside till you’re ready to stuff and bake the ma’amoul.

Ingredients for Nut Filling:

1-1/2 cups finely chopped walnuts or pistachios

2 tablespoons rose- or orange flower water

¼ cup sugar

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method for Nut Filling:

Simply mix everything up well. Put the filling in a small bowl and set aside.

To Stuff and Bake the Ma’amoul:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350° F -190° C.

2. Prepare a cookie sheet by the method you prefer: line it with parchment, or grease it lightly, or lay a silicon sheet over the surface.

2. Use a tablespoon to take dough out – a level tablespoon each time. Flatten each piece onto the palm of your hand, and push it till it’s about a 3-inch circle.

3. Place 1 ½  teaspoons of the nut filling on top of the dough. Bring the edges of the dough up with your fingertips and press them together to seal the filling. Repeat with remaining dough and filling.

Or, simply hold some dough in the palm of your hand, poke a hole in the middle, and fill. Roll the ball of dough between your palms – lightly – to seal the filling.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until  pale golden. Watch them after 20 minutes and don’t allow them to brown, as they will continue to harden while cooling. Transfer to a wire rack immediately. Dust with confectioner’s sugar.