Palestinian Mamool with Walnut, Pistachio or Date filling

Mamool are popular Middle Eastern cookies with three traditional fillings – walnut, pistachio and date. Each kind of cookie is formed in a specific wooden mold, so you can tell by the design on the cookie which filling is inside.

Ingredients

Dough

4 cups semolina

1 cup flour

2 cups butter, melted

½ teaspoon instant yeast

½ teaspoon fenugreek

¼ cup rose water

¼ cup orange blossom water


Walnut or Pistachios Filling

2 cups walnut or pistachios

¼ cup sugar

1 tablespoon rose water

1 teaspoon cinnamon


Date Filling

½ pound pitted dates

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg


Directions

1. Mix dough ingredients, without the rose water and the orange blossom, and let sit overnight.

2. Combine rose water and orange blossom water in a bowl. Knead the dough, keeping it wet by frequently dipping your hand in the bowl. Dough should be soft and sticky but not stick to your hands. Cover dough with towel and leave for two hours. Knead one more time, and if dough is stiff, add more rose and orange blossom water from bowl.

3. Prepare the stuffing by mixing all the respective ingredients. Date filling: Melt the butter by putting with the dates in the microwave for 30 to 60 seconds, then mix the cinnamon and nutmeg and add to the dates.

4. Divide the dough into walnut-sized lumps. Wet hand by dipping in water, hold a lump of dough in the palm of your hand, use a finger to make a hole in the dough and then fill with 1 or 2 teaspoons of preferred filling. Join the sides to enclose the filling, then roll into a ball.

5. If you have the wooden molds that are traditionally used to shape the Mamool, put dough into the mold. Release the Mamool from the mold by tapping the mold on a table. If there is no mold, sprinkle semolina on a baking tray and arrange 10 or 11 Mamool doughballs on the tray.

6. Bake in preheated oven at 375 to 400 F until the sides are slightly pinkish. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.

Sahteen! (Twice to your health)


Source: http://trifaith.org/?page_id=1185

My Syrian wife makes mamool cookies every Christmas. She has the molds to. She always uses pecan nuts. Just because they grow here. They are very good but time consuming to make. CF