Ma Amoul Recipes

Steps:

• Mix semolina flour, all-purpose flour, mahlab, and salt together in a large bowl. Work clarified butter into the dry ingredients with your fingertips until thoroughly incorporated. Cover bowl and let dough rest at room temperature, 8 hours to overnight.
• Pour milk into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave until just warm, about 15 seconds. Stir in sugar and yeast until dissolved. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
• Pour yeast mixture and orange blossom water over the dough and mix until evenly moistened. Pinch off a piece of dough and roll into a ball; it should hold its shape without cracking. Add more milk or orange blossom water if needed. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
• Sprinkle some flour over the ma'amoul molds and tap out the excess. Pinch off a walnut-sized piece of dough and roll into a ball. Press your thumb into the ball to create space for the filling. Work the edges with your fingers so the sides are even and fairly thin. Drop in a piece of date paste and pinch dough over it to seal.
• Place cookie into the mold cavity seam-side up. Press down so that the top is flush with edges of the mold. Trim off any excess dough. Invert the mold and tap it against your work surface to release the cookie. Repeat with remaining dough and date paste, arranging cookies 1 inch apart on the baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven, 1 baking sheet at a time, until edges and bottoms are golden but tops are still mostly pale, about 15 minutes.
• Sift powdered sugar over the cookies while still slightly warm. Let cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Steps:

• Dough: In a small bowl, stir yeast and 1/2 teaspoon sugar into warm water; let stand until bubbly, about 5 minutes.
• In a large bowl, whisk together flours, mahleb, salt, mastic, and remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Gently mix in clarified butter until it is absorbed. In a small bowl, stir together yeast mixture and milk. Drizzle over flour mixture; using your hands or a rubber spatula, knead just until dough comes together and is moist but not wet. Cover; let stand at room temperature 2 hours.
• Filling: Meanwhile, pulse dates, butter, water, sugar, cinnamon, mahleb, and anise seeds in a food processor until a smooth paste forms. Cover and let stand until dough has rested.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop, scoop 1 heaping tablespoon of dough; roll into a ball. Press dough in the palm of your hand to form a well in the center. Place 1 scant teaspoon of filling in well. Pull up sides of dough to enclose, adding more dough if necessary. Firmly press dough into a ma'amoul mold. Invert mold; tap to release dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing about 1 inch apart. Refrigerate about 1 hour.
• Bake until beginning to turn golden around edges, 14 to 17 minutes. Transfer sheets to a wire rack; let cool completely.

Steps:

• For the dough: Put the semolina, flour, granulated sugar and baking powder in a large bowl and stir with a wooden spoon to combine. (It's important not to use your hands to make the dough because the natural heat of your hands will make the dough release oil, resulting in dry dough.) Mix in the ghee. The mixture will feel and look like crumbs. Add the milk slowly (2 tablespoons at a time) and mix to combine until you have a soft dough that you can make into small balls. It's best to add the milk slowly so the dough doesn't come together before all the milk is added.
• For the date filling: Put the baking dates, ghee, cinnamon and cardamom in a medium bowl and mix with a spoon until the ghee and spices are combined well with the dates. Rub some ghee or vegetable oil on your palms to avoid sticking and shape the date filling into 40 to 45 small balls for a small ma'amoul mold. If using a larger mold, shape the balls accordingly.
• Preheat the oven 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Roll the semolina dough into 40 to 45 balls as well.
• Flatten a semolina dough ball and place a date ball in the middle of it. Bring the dough together to cover the date ball and roll in your hands to smooth the cracks. Place the ball in the ma'amoul mold and gently press it so the pattern prints on it. Bang the mold against a cutting board to release the cookie and place it smooth-side down on the prepared baking sheet. If you don't own a mold, simply flatten the stuffed dough ball into a 1/2-inch-thick disk and make a simple pattern by pressing a fork gently on the dough to make a crisscross. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. You can place the cookies quite close to each other since they won't spread.
• Bake until the cookies are slightly golden brown around the edges, 18 to 20 minutes. Let them cool completely, then dust with confectioners' sugar if desired.

Steps:

• Prepare each filling by mixing the ingredients in a bowl. For the date filling, knead the dates with the nutmeg and butter until soft. (You can warm the dates in the oven to make them easier to knead.) Break off a piece and roll into a log about 4 inches long. Bring the ends together to form a 1½-inch-diameter ring. Proceed until all are done and set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine the semolina, mahlab, and sugar and mix well. Pour in the melted butter and mix in with your fingertips, coating completely. Sprinkle on the yeast and sugar to incorporate. Gradually pour in the slightly warmed milk and mix until the mixture forms a dough. It should be soft and pliable, and not sticky. You may not end up using all of the milk.
• For the nut-filled maamoul, take a piece of dough of about the size of a walnut and cup it in one hand. With your thumb poke the center of the dough to make a well. Using your thumb on the inside and your index finger on the outside, work the dough upwards to thin it out gradually into a shell. Place a teaspoonful of the nut filling in the well. Bring the edges together to cover the filling completely. Smooth out and turn over the filled pastry. With a pincher proceed to decorate the shell. Make your pistachio-filled ones oval and your walnut-filled ones round. Place on a baking sheet.
• For the date-filled maamoul, take a walnut-sized piece of dough and flatten in the palm of your hand. Place a prepared date ring in the center and fold the edges over to enclose completely toward the center. Follow the shape of the date ring and pinch the center to make a hole in the middle. It will look like a filled donut. Turn the seam side down. Grab hold of the pastry in one hand and proceed to use the pincher to decorate. Place on a baking sheet.
• Preheat oven to 375°F. Bake for about 15-20 minutes. The maamoul should only be slightly colored. Remove and cool completely before dusting with icing sugar. Store cooled pastries in an airtight container without the icing sugar.

Steps:

• Prepare the dough: In a large bowl combine the butter and ghee and mix well with a spatula. In a separate bowl, combine the coarse and fine semolina, the sugar and mahlab and mix well.
• Add the dry ingredients to the butter-ghee mixture. Use your hands to massage the ingredients together, rubbing it between your fingers without kneading or over-working the dough. Add ¼ cup orange blossom water and thoroughly mix with your hands again. Cover and set aside to rest for at least two hours and up to 10 hours at room temperature.
• Meanwhile, prepare the nut fillings: In a bowl, thoroughly mix the pistachios, sugar and orange blossom water; set aside. In a separate bowl thoroughly mix the walnuts, sugar, cinnamon and orange blossom water; set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 350˚F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl, mix the yeast with 2 tablespoons warm water until it dissolves. Add it to the dough and mix using your hands (but, again, don't knead). If the dough seems too dry to form into a ball, add cold milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together. The dough shouldn't be wet, just moist enough to stick together when forming the cookies.
• Take a chunk of dough and roll it into a ball the size of a golf ball. Holding the dough ball in one hand, take the index finger of your other hand to indent the center and form a hollow area by continuing to press down while turning the ball with your other hand. Spoon one of the nut fillings into the hole and close it back up, pinching the dough together over the filling. Repeat with remaining dough and filling.
• In the Middle East, ma'amoul cookies have beautiful intricate designs after being pressed into special molds. You can find molds online or at a Middle Eastern supermarket. Otherwise you could use a muffin tin to shape the cookies. Press the stuffed dough ball into an oiled mold and then gently smack the mold onto your hand to get the cookie out. Arrange the molded cookies on the prepared baking sheet and bake until golden brown on the bottom, about 14 minutes.
• Dust the cookies with a layer of powdered sugar as soon as they come out of the oven (the sugar will melt into the dough), then dust again once cooled. Serve with a cup of tea or Turkish coffee.