Photo: Sarka Babicka for The Jewelled Kitchen
These cookies are traditionally created using three beautiful wooden moulds, each engraved to identify their fillings.
Ma’amoul Shortbread Cookies
Makes 25-30 pieces roughly
Preparation time: 45 minutes, plus chilling and resting
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Ingredients for the dough
• 140g/5oz/scant 1 cup semolina, plus extra for dusting
• 35g/11⁄4oz/1⁄4 cup farina (potato starch)
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 1⁄4 tsp ground mahlab or ground almonds
• 75g/21⁄2oz butter, melted
• 1 tbsp orange blossom water icing sugar, to dust
Pistachio Filling
• 35g/11⁄4oz/1⁄4 cup pistachios 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 1⁄4 tsp orange blossom water
Walnut Filling
• 35g/11⁄4oz/1⁄3 cup walnut pieces
• 15g/1⁄2oz caster sugar
• 1⁄4 tsp orange blossom water
Date & Walnut Filling
• 40g/11⁄2oz/1⁄4 cup pitted dates
• 4–5 walnuts
a pinch of ground nutmeg 5g/1⁄4oz butter, melted
Instructions
1. Put the semolina, farina, sugar and mahlab in a mixing bowl. Add the melted butter along with the orange blossom water and beat well. Knead the mixture for 3–4 minutes, working it into a pliable dough. Cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for two hours.
2. Meanwhile, prepare the fillings. For the pistachio filling, put the pistachios, sugar and orange blossom water in a small food processor or blender. Whizz for one minute to form a rough paste, then transfer to a bowl and wash the food processor.
3. For the walnut filling, put the walnuts, sugar and orange blossom water in the washed food processor or blender. Whizz for one minute to form a rough paste. Transfer to a bowl and wash the food processor.
4. For the date and walnut filling, put the dates, walnuts and nutmeg in the washed food processor or blender. Melt the butter and add to the mixture, then whizz for one minute to form a rough paste.
5. Remove the dough from the fridge and leave to rest at room temperature for about 20 minutes before kneading it for two minutes.
6. Divide the dough into three even-sized amounts and roll out each piece into a long, thin, rod-like shape. Pinch off small lumps of the dough (about 2.5cm/1in pieces), and atten them with your palms, making sure it’s quite thin but not so thin that it will tear.
7. Dust the ma’amoul mould cavities with semolina and then invert and tap gently to remove the excess. Gently flatten the dough into each mould cavity and add the relevant filling. Bring the edges together and seal well, then flatten the surface to create a level base for the cookie to sit on, pinching off any excess dough. Gently release by tapping the mould on the work surface. Repeat until you have about eight pistachio cookies, eight walnut cookies and ten date and walnut cookies (which are smaller). Each of your cookies should be clearly stamped with its design.
8. Preheat the oven to 200 ̊C/400 ̊F/Gas6. Dust a baking sheet with semolina and place the cookies on it. Bake for 10–15 minutes for the larger cookies and about 8–10 minutes for the smaller ones until the sides are slightly golden in colour. Leave to cool, then dust with icing sugar.
Note: I like to add the filling using the mould because I find it yields more consistent results. Alternatively, flatten the dough in the palm of your hand while making a hole in it, then stuff it with the filling, seal the edges, roll it into a ball, then finally press it into a mould.
Bethany Kehdy is a celebrated Lebanese-American chef, award-winning cookbook author, culinary anthropologist, presenter, and former Miss Lebanon (2002). The entrepreneur has cooked and consulted for restaurants, gourmet events, and high-profile figures the world over to full restaurant consultancies from New York to Mykonos. Kehdy believes cooking and eating should have no bounds and follow no superficial rules. Pushing the boundaries and dreaming up trailblazing takes on classics, neglected cuts and forgotten ingredients excites her. “I believe that cuisine, especially Middle Eastern cuisine, should evolve as it always has,” she says. “I also think it’s important that we become acquainted with the roots and history first in order to build on this knowledge and maintain the cuisine’s soul essence.”
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