Mamool (Maamoul) - Date Filled Cookies

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Celebrate Ramadan and Eid with these delicious Middle Eastern date-filled cookies known as mamool or maamoul! They're crispy & buttery on the outside, with a sweet & chewy date filling.

Every Ramadan that I've spend with my in-laws, a batch of delicious mamool are made. These date-filled butter cookies are seriously irresistible. Once you taste one, another half dozen will be in your mouth before you know it.

The cookies are crisp and buttery on the outside, and each bite melts in your mouth. The filling is made from sweet dates spiced with a little ground cinnamon.

And they're fun to make with a mamool mold, which is a wooden tool that imprints a pretty design on the top of each cookie. But you don't need this tool to be able to make delicious mamool. You can shape each cookie into a ball and flatten it ever so slightly and bake them as-is. They'll still turn out tasting great!

I found my gorgeous wooden maamoul mold in a local shop in Portland called Indigo Traders. And they gave me a recipe for maamoul that inspired the recipe below! You can also find mamool molds online. My mother-in-law has one from her last visit to the Middle East that imprints a beautiful flower design onto each cookie.

Ingredients

Dough

• All purpose flour
• Powdered sugar
• Active dry yeast 
• Unsalted butter
• Rose water

Filling

• Dates 
• Ground cinnamon
• Unsalted butter

How to Make Mamool

1. Mix the dry ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, powdered sugar and active dry yeast.
2. Knead the dough: In the mixing bowl, knead the stick of softened butter into the dry ingredients with your hands until it forms a course and mealy dough.
3. Add the rose water: Add the rose water and knead for another minute by hand in the mixing bowl until it forms a smooth and elastic dough.
4. Rest the dough Cover the mixing bowl with a damp towel and let rest at room temperature for 2 hours.
5. Blend the filling: Pulse the pitted dates and ground cinnamon in a blender or food processor until it forms a paste. Set aside.
6. Add melted butter to the filling: Slowly knead the melted butter into the blended dates until it is fully incorporated.
7. Shape dough balls and filling: Form the dough into 1-inch balls. Flatten the dough balls in your palms into discs that are about 3-inchs in diameter and about ¼-inch thick. Form the date filling into 1-inch balls.
8. Fill the cookies: Place one date filling ball into the center of a flattened disc of dough. Pull the sides of the dough up and over the date filling to completely cover it and re-roll it in your palms into a smooth ball.
9. Use the maamoul mold: If using a maamoul mold, press the cookie seam-side-up into the mold. Then turn the mold over and whack it on the counter to release the cookie.
10. Bake: Spread out cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a non-stick baking liner. Bake for 15-17 minutes, until the edges are golden.

How to Shape Mamool

Step 1 - Shape the dough into 1-inch balls

Step 2 - Flatten each dough ball in the palms of your hands until it's about 3 inches in diameter

Step 3 - Roll some of the date filling into a 1-inch ball

Step 4 - Place the date filling ball in the center of the flattened disc of cookie dough

Step 5 - Pull the sides of the dough up and over the date filling to completely cover it and re-roll it in your palms into a smooth ball

Step 6 - Press the date-filled dough ball into a mamool mold

Step 7 - Turn the mamool mold over and give it a hard whack on the table to release the cookie from the mold

Recipe Tips

• If your dates aren't very soft, you can soak them for about 15 minutes in hot water, then drain them.
• The date paste is thick, so take your time when incorporating the melted butter. The more you knead it and work it in, the more well-distributed it will be.
• There is store bought date paste that you could use instead, if you don't want to make date paste from scratch at home.
• If you're using a wooden maamoul mold, don't soak it in water. You also don't need to spray it with cooking spray, since the butter in the cookie dough will allow it to release pretty easily from the mold.

More Middle Eastern Inspired Recipes

• Baked Falafel
• Vegan Baklava
• Date Cake
• Baklava Cheesecake
• Hummus (Hommus) from Scratch
• Semolina Cake (Basbousa)
• Vegan Knafeh