12
Apr
The day started badly. I couldn’t find my moulds for the Easter cookies. I was teaching a class that evening showing how to make Lebanese Easter cookies. I searched everywhere, except of course where they were. I did the class. Had to, improvising with a tea strainer and a crinkly cookie cutter. The pastries were OK as you can see from the pic below and the class went well. They all had a go at making the cookies and they were scrumptious, even if my mother would have frowned at how they looked.
The next morning, I was putting some order in the hidden corner of my kitchen where I stash stuff that I don’t use that often, and, of course, the moulds were there. Too annoying. Never mind. I had pastry and filling left over from the class & lovely Nuria, my assistant, was coming back to clear up & help me make more cookies. When she arrived, I produced my moulds not knowing whether I should feel triumphant or stupid.
Didn’t matter. I had the moulds and now we could make the remaining cookies using them. I hadn’t used these in years and wondered if the pastry was going to stick to the grooves. Luckily not. Here is the first date cookie pre baking.
Not bad. So, I continued. The only thing I could have done better was to divide the pieces of pastry equally, weighing each so that the cookies turned out all the same size and more importantly, fitted the mould without spilling over or being too small. Here’s the recipe for the walnut cookies, which I should have sprinkled with icing sugar but I decided they had enough calories as is.
By the way, the pastry for the date cookies is the same as the one in the recipe below. All you have to do is mix 350 g date paste with ½ tsp ground cinnamon and 30 g melted butter. Knead to mix well, then shape small disks that are the size of the grooved circle inside the mould; then flatten the pastry into a circle that is about 1 ½ cm larger than the date disk. Put the date disk in the middle of the pastry, and flap the pastry over the date. Then gently shape into a circle that is slightly smaller than the mould. Put the filled pastry, seam side on the outside, into the mould and gently press to fit the mould and get the impression. Then tap out against your work surface, with your hand underneath the mould to catch the cookie. Slide on the baking tray. Bake, let cool on a wire rack and enjoy.
Walnut Cookies
Ma’mul bil-Joz
Makes about 30
For the pastry
350 g semolina
40 g plain flour
40 g golden caster sugar
¼ teaspoon easy bake yeast
150 g unsalted butter, softened
2 ½ to 3 tablespoons orange blossom water
2 ½ to 3 tablespoons rose water
for the filling
175 g walnuts, ground medium fine
50 g golden caster sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ tablespoon rose water
½ tablespoon orange blossom water
to finish
icing sugar
1. Mix the semolina, flour, sugar and yeast in a mixing bowl. Add the softened butter and, with the tips of your fingers, work it in until fully incorporated. Add the orange blossom and rose water and knead until the pastry is smooth and elastic. Roll into a ball and cover with cling film. Let rest for one and a half hours in a cool place.
2. Mix the ground walnuts, sugar and cinnamon in a mixing bowl. Add the rose and orange blossom water and mix well. Set aside.
3. Preheat the oven to 200ºC.
4. Pinch off a small piece of pastry and roll into a ball the size of a walnut. Place it in the cup of your hand and with your index finger, burrow into it to shape it into a hollow cone — be careful not to pierce the bottom. The cone walls should be about 5 mm thick. Fill the pastry cone with 1 teaspoon walnut filling and pinch the dough together to close it over the filling. Carefully shape the filled pastry into a ball and lightly press into the tabe’ (ma’mul mould), leaving the pinched side on the outside so that when you invert the pastry, it is on the bottom. Invert the mould over the tips of the fingers of your other hand and tap it lightly against your work surface to release it onto your hand. Slide the moulded pastry onto a non-stick baking sheet. Fill and shape the remaining pastry in the same way. You may have to scrape the inside of the mould every now and then, in case some pastry has stuck to it. You can also shape these inside a small tea strainer if you don’t have a mould or by hand. You should end up with about 30 pastries.
5. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes or until cooked but not coloured. Remove onto a rack. Let sit for a few minutes then sprinkle with icing sugar. Serve or store in hermetically sealed containers to serve later. These cookies will last for a couple of weeks.
©Anissa Helou; recipe from Anissa’s Lebanese Cuisine (Grub Street in UK & St Martin’s Press in US)
Lebanese Cuisine is available from amazon.co.uk (UK)
Lebanese Cuisine is available from amazon.com (US)
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18
There is 18 comments on this post
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April 15, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Thanks for the recipe Anissa. I will be in the kitchen this weekend!
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April 19, 2009 at 10:55 pm
Still looking for those moulds Anissa without success I’m afraid!
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April 20, 2009 at 1:33 am
i will bring back some with me from Beirut next week, or from Syria in May and will post them. They are heavy though. Did you try the Lebanese shops? Is it Melbourne where the large Lebanese community is?
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April 20, 2009 at 1:04 pm
What lovely cookies, those molds are a work of art. Ma’muls are also very popular in Israel. Have not tried making them yet, but your version must be so aromatic with the use of orange blossom water.
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April 20, 2009 at 1:17 pm
it is, and totally scrumptious. so much so that i ate half of them. terrible for the figure i must say. gave the rest away. you should try making them. they are fun to make despite the time it takes.
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April 21, 2009 at 8:43 am
Nice post! i love the pictures, they look great and kudos for pulling it off without the proper molds, i can’t tell the difference really.
Forget the bunny, Easter without maamoul is not easter. My mom sent me a batch of these delicious pastries all the way to New York, i ate half of them already. As you said TERRIBLE FOR THE FIGURE. But they are too precious for me to give away 🙂
I look forward to more posts.
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April 22, 2009 at 3:29 am
thanks Carla. Go easy now on the rest of the ma’mul!
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April 27, 2009 at 1:38 pm
merci beaucoup for the recipe! i would love to have these molds! where can i get some?
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April 27, 2009 at 1:52 pm
here in Lebanon, in most kitcheware shops; and in any traditional Lebanese shop abroad. i will check in the Lebanese shops in London. they used to sell them. not sure if they still do.
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September 8, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Hello Chef Anissa…
My aunt’s name is Anissa, and I love her dearly.
Last year I used this recipe to make Eid cookies, the taste was great but they were really crumbley and some of them started cracking midway through baking.
I wanna use the same recipe for this Eid but I want to fix the cracking problem first.
Your help is much appreciated.
Happy Eid
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September 8, 2010 at 12:32 pm
hi dawn. how lovely that your aunt and i share the same name. i think all you need to do is add a little more water to the dough. not too much but just a little. perhaps 2 tablespoons? it may be that the dough is a little too dry. good luck and happy eid to you too.
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April 24, 2011 at 11:44 am
Your maamouls are gorgeous! And I am SO in love with the molds!
My mother, who gave me the recipe, forgot to tell me to add flour to the mix of semolina… anyway, it was very good for my first take on maamouls ever (and there’s only 10 left!… hem) but I’ll definitely try with flour next year! Happy Easter to you!
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April 24, 2011 at 12:02 pm
thank you christelle. same to you. and next time, use regular semolina for a really crumbly pastry. i made the mistake of sending the recipe to one of the pastry chefs at the CIA saying fine semolina and i couldn’t understand while the pastry was not like it should be. then i discussed it with my mom and realised my mistake. and i had the right recipe all along. moral of the story, some recipes are best left alone :). and you’re right. the moulds are gorgeous. mine are more than 20 yrs old. i was intrigued by your cheese cloth method. it may be that you need to use your moulds a few times then they won’t stick. am hoping to get some ma’mul next week from beirut, some made by my mom and others made by hanna who also makes the most amazing arabic ice cream. yum. can’t wait.
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February 15, 2017 at 9:20 am
Dear Anissa any chance you could give us the measures in UScups , am craving these for Easter ! Thank you
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February 15, 2017 at 9:37 am
hi Mariam, here is a very good chart to convert from weight to cups: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart.html
Good luck 🙂
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December 4, 2017 at 2:00 pm
Hi Anissa! I have a question: do you use coarse or fine semolina for the maamoul? And what is the difference between the maamoul and karabeej dough?
Thank you
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December 5, 2017 at 4:27 pm
regular semolina 🙂
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May 16, 2020 at 11:38 am
I landed here from reading Bill Addison’s newsletter just now. But HOORAY!!! I have had one of those molds in my kitchen for years and *never* known what it was. Very pleased! (I thought it was a butter mold somehow? Might still get used for that, but now it gets new respect and one of these days, proper use!