Ma'amul Arabian Cookies
A delicious shortbread style cookie stuffed with nuts and date and beautifully decorated.
Servings 28 cookies
Calories 136kcal
Ingredients
- 2 cups Semolina
- 1/3 cup Plain Flour
- 1/2 Sugar
- 3/4 cup Salted Butter
- 3 Tablespoons Orange Blossom Water divided
- 2 Tablespoons Rose Water divided
- 1 1/2 Cups Pistachios
- 3 Medjool Dates pitted
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon ground
For Garnish
- 1/4 cup Powdered Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon rose petals
Instructions
- For the dough:
- Put the semolina, flour, 1/4 cup sugar into a large mixing bowl and stir together.
- Cut the butter into cubes and add this to the flour mixture, work with your fingers until the texture is like breadcrumbs.
- Add 2 tablespoons of orange blossom water, 1 tablespoon of rose water and 1 tablespoon of water and use your hands to bring the mixture together into a ball.
- Remove to a clean surface and knead the dough gently until smooth.
- Cover the dough with a damp cloth and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
- While the dough rests make the filling:
- Place the pistachios, dates, 1/4 cup sugar, cinnamon, 1 Tablespoon of orange blossom water and 1 Tablespoon of rose water in a food processor bowl.
- Blitz until you get a coarse paste.
- To mold the cookies:
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. or the equivalent.
- Get a bowl of water ready so that you can keep your hands damp while you work, to help prevent the dough from cracking.
- Divide the dough into approx 28 pieces of equal size.
- Take a piece of dough and roll it into a ball. Flatten it in the cup of your hand and turning it around as you do so, use your thumb to press it flat and then lift the edges to shape a little 'pot'. The sides need to be about 2.5cm high and 3mm thick.
- Fill the pastry pot with a spoonful of the filling.
- Pinch the dough over the filling so that the pot is sealed and then gently roll it into a ball again.
- Flatten the ball between the palms of our hands, and, either place directly onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper or place into a ma'amul mould and press down lightly to indent the pattern before tapping them onto the baking tray.
- Repeat until you have used all the dough/filling.
- If you haven't used a mold, You can use a fork and press down gently on the top of each cookie to make like patterns with the tines.
- 1Bake for 15-20 minutes. The cookies need to be cooked through but they should not begin to turn color, so watch them closely.
- Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool before sprinkling with powdered sugar and rose petals before serving.
Nutrition
Calories: 136kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 13mg | Sodium: 44mg | Potassium: 111mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 185IU | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 13mg | Iron: 0.9mg