Maamoul Recipe: How to Make Lebanese Date Cookies
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Dec 20, 2024 • 2 min read
From Easter to Eid, date-stuffed maamoul are a popular holiday cookie throughout the Middle East—a sweet reward to break the Ramadan or Lent fasts.
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What Are Maamoul Cookies?
Maamoul are filled cookies savored across the Arabic-speaking world, particularly in Lebanon. An ancestor of Egyptian kahk cookies, made with white flour, Lebanese maamoul use high-gluten semolina, which lends the cookie its structure—as buttery and supple as shortbread cookies—and subtle golden hue.
Traditionally, the dough encases chewy, sweet dates accented with orange blossom or rosewater. Decoratively shaped with a wooden mold and dusted with powdered sugar, maamoul are a dessert centerpiece.
3 Tips for Making Maamoul Cookies
If you don’t have a maamoul mold, your hands are the next best tool for shaping these cookies. Use your palm to flatten the cookies into discs, and decorate them with the edge of a fork before baking. Here’s what else to know.
- 1. Choosing nuts or fruits: Maamoul cookies usually feature dates, but walnut or pistachio fillings work beautifully. Just add a heaping tablespoon of sugar or honey to the nuts, as they lack dates’ natural sweetness.
- 2. Sourcing mahlab: Ground mahlab, the distilled seed of St. Lucie cherries, has notes of almond and vanilla, and you can purchase it from Middle Eastern specialty grocery stores. A pinch of ground fennel or nutmeg will work in its place or skip it entirely.
- 3. Chilling the dough: Since the room-temperature dough will be too soft to mold, roll it into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and place it in the freezer for at least fifteen minutes before shaping.
Lebanese-Style Maamoul Cookie Recipe
makes
24 cookiesprep time
35 mintotal time
1 hrcook time
25 minIngredients
For the sugar syrup:
For the cookie dough:
For the date filling:
For serving:
Make the sugar syrup:
- 1
In a small pot over medium heat, combine the sugar, water, and orange blossom water and bring it to a gentle boil.
- 2
Reduce the heat and simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved. Set the pan aside to cool.
Make the cookie dough:
- 1
In a medium bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, semolina flour, baking powder, mahlab, and salt.
- 2
Add the melted ghee and cooled sugar syrup to the dry ingredients and stir until fully incorporated.
- 3
Shape the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Make the date filling:
- 1
In the bowl of a food processor, combine the dates, ghee, and orange blossom water and process it into a paste. Set the paste aside.
Assemble the cookies:
- 1
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 2
Using a bench scraper, cut the chilled dough into 6 portions, then divide each portion into 4 pieces.
- 3
Press each portion of maamoul dough into a disc with your thumbs.
- 4
Spoon 1 teaspoon of date filling into the center of the dough and fold the dough back over the filling, gently rolling it into an even ball between your palms.
- 5
Use a wooden mold to shape each cookie, then place them onto a parchment paper–lined baking sheet or cookie sheet. Alternatively, place each ball directly onto the baking sheet, press down gently with your palm, and decorate using the tines of a fork.
- 6
Bake the cookies until they are golden brown, about 20–25 minutes.
- 7
Let the cookies cool completely before dusting them with powdered sugar. Store the leftovers in an airtight container.
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