Ma'moul
Semolina Cookies Stuffed with Dates and Nuts
Ma'moul are the fragrant semolina cookies that appear on every table across Palestine and the wider Levant for Eid al-Fitr, and in many Christian homes they are baked in the same way for Easter. A tender, buttery dough of fine and coarse semolina is enriched with ghee and perfumed with orange blossom and rose water, then rested so the grains drink up the fat and turn silky. The cookies are hollowed by hand, packed with a soft date paste or a sweet mixture of walnuts or pistachios, and closed into little domes that bake to the palest gold. The nut versions are dusted heavily with powdered sugar once cool, while the date ones are usually left bare, and a batch is meant to be shared with everyone who visits during the holiday.
Method
Start the dough the day before you plan to bake. In a large bowl, whisk together the fine semolina, coarse semolina, flour, powdered sugar, mahlab, and salt. Pour in the warm melted butter or ghee and rub it through the dry ingredients with your fingertips until every grain is coated and the mixture holds together when squeezed. Cover the bowl and leave it at room temperature overnight, or for at least 8 hours, so the semolina can absorb the fat and soften.
The next day, stir the instant yeast into the warm milk along with the orange blossom water and rose water. Pour this over the rested semolina a little at a time, working it in with your hands until you have a soft, pliable dough that is smooth but not sticky. You may not need all the milk, so add it gradually. Cover and let the dough relax for 30 to 45 minutes.
Make the date filling. Warm the date paste in a small saucepan over low heat with the 1 tablespoon butter and the cinnamon, mashing and stirring for a few minutes until it turns soft, glossy, and smooth. Let it cool, then roll it into small balls about 3/4 inch across, one for each date cookie you plan to shape.
Make the nut fillings. For the walnuts, stir together the chopped walnuts, 3 tablespoons sugar, cinnamon, and 1 tablespoon orange blossom water until evenly moistened. For the pistachios, mix the ground pistachios, 3 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon orange blossom water, and the rose water into a mixture that just clumps when pressed. Add a teaspoon of water at a time if either filling is too dry to hold together.
Heat the oven to 375 F and line two baking sheets with parchment. Pinch off a piece of dough about the size of a walnut, roll it into a smooth ball between your palms, then press your thumb into the center and turn the ball against your fingers to open it into a small cup with walls of even thickness, keeping the base from getting too thin.
Spoon in a rounded teaspoon of filling, or set in one date ball, then draw the edges of the dough up and over the filling and pinch them closed. Roll the sealed ball gently between your palms to smooth the seam, then set it seam side down and press lightly into a plump dome or a low disk, whichever shape you prefer.
Decorate the top by hand. Press the tines of a fork gently into the surface in rows or a crosshatch, or use kitchen tweezers, the tip of a toothpick, or a fine skewer to pick up and pinch small ridges and dots into the dough, working around the dome to build a simple pattern. You can also pinch a rope of little peaks around the edge with your fingers. Keep the marks shallow so the pattern holds without cutting through to the filling. If you happen to own a carved wooden or plastic ma'moul mold, you can instead press each filled ball into the floured mold and tap it out, but the hand-shaped cookies bake just as beautifully.
Arrange the cookies about an inch apart on the lined sheets. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the cookies are set and only just golden on the bottoms, with the tops staying pale. Ma'moul are meant to look barely baked, so take them out before they color on top, since overbaking makes them dry and hard.
Let the cookies cool on the sheets for a few minutes to firm up, then move them to a rack to cool completely. Once cool, dust the walnut and pistachio cookies generously with powdered sugar, and leave the date cookies plain. Store in an airtight container, where they keep well for up to two weeks.
Cook’s notes
- The overnight rest is what makes the dough tender, so do not skip it. If you are short on time, give the buttered semolina at least 4 hours to soften before adding the milk.
- Keep the dough loosely covered while you shape, and press the tops out before they warm up too much, since cool dough holds a crisp pattern better than soft, greasy dough.
- Mahlab, the ground kernel of a wild cherry, gives ma'moul their traditional gentle almond and rose scent. If you cannot find it, the cookies are still lovely without it.
- For a vegan batch, use a good plant-based butter in both the dough and the date filling, and fill with dates or nuts rather than any dairy.
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