Ma'amoul – date stuffed semolina cookies
One of the most famous cookies from the Arab world.
You may already know of ma’amoul, one of the most famous cookies across the Arab world. While often associated with eid and Easter, it’s a popular treat year-round. They also exist in the South Eastern parts of Turkey, where they’re known as kömbe, but are rare in the rest of the country.
Ma’amoul cookies are characterised by their pattern, courtesy of beautifully carved out wooden moulds made for the sole purpose of shaping these biscuits. The moulds apparently have their roots in Ancient Egypt. There are different patterns, each usually signifying the type of filling inside. The biscuit itself is fairly crumbly, reminiscent of shortbread, but with more of a bite, and flavoured with rosewater or orange blossom water. It can be filled with nuts, dates or other dried fruits.
How to make ma’amoul
I’m not going to pronounce myself a ma’amoul expert. But I’ve made them a few times, eaten them even more and gone through countless authentic recipes in books and online. I’ve learned enough to realise that there are many ways of making these cookies.
Some rely on semolina for the dry ingredient, others plain flour or a mixture. Some are yeasted, some use baking powder. Some use room temperature butter, others melted. The doughs are all flavoured to various degrees by rosewater or orange blossom water (or both).
And that’s before we even get to the filling.
Personally, I like the crunch that comes with using mainly semolina, though it does make the dough slightly more difficult to work with. If you find it too difficult, substitute a larger amount of plain flour.
My method may not be exactly how the mamas around the Middle East make them, but it works for me. I never use a rolling pin, as I find it easier to flatten the dough with my hands. After adding the filling, I close it as best as I can. I find it’s easiest to fold as per the pictures below, i.e. folding the opposite sides over first, then the sides, rather than working my way around.
The recipe I use is a variation on the one in Anissa Helou’s seminal Feast: Food of the Islamic World. Her recipe is traditional, and I’ve only made some small tweaks to make it work better for me. For example, I’ve reduced the amount of rosewater, as I found it overpowered the filling. This, of course, is a matter of taste. If you’re more used to the flavour of rosewater than I am, feel free to add more.
And don’t worry if you don’t have one of those beautiful ma’amoul moulds. You can use any other mould you like, or simply shape it with your hands and make a pattern with a fork.
Biscuit/cookie | Middle Eastern | 20 cookies