As Easter approaches, I am thrilled to share a traditional holiday treat — an ancient one, really — from the Middle East.
Served primarily around Easter as well as Eid, ma'amoul (meaning "filled" in Arabic) is a handmade shortbread cookie pressed into a carved, wooden mold and stuffed with a variety of fillings such as date paste, pistachios and almonds. They are buttery and melt in your mouth, but they're not too sweet. Instead, you taste the delicate flavor of orange blossom water. It's the perfect reward after Lent or Ramadan.
My Lebanese mother-in-law makes these beautiful cookies look easy, but I knew they were not as simple as they looked. When I called her to ask for the recipe, she was excited that I wanted to learn. While she says everything is "oh so simple," these cookies can be intimidating.
First, there are several steps involved: making the dough, making the fillings, filling the cookies, then baking. 
Second, the molds are important. In Lebanese culture, each filling gets a specific mold. The oval mold is always used for the pistachio filling. The round but dome-shaped mold is used for the almonds, and the round with a flat top is used for the date paste.
Third, some ingredients may be difficult to find. Orange blossom water, mahleb (a spice made from the seeds of a cherry), and semolina can be found online at Amazon or at Sara's Market & Bakery in Richardson.
Once you have all of the ingredients and purchased the molds, our tradition is to make the first part of the recipe the night before Easter. Then, on Easter morning, gather your family together to shape and mold the cookies. This will bring everyone around the table and is sure to create memories that will last forever.
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Ma'amoul
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 Cup Clarified Butter, Room Temperature
- 2 Cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 Cup Semolina
- 1 tsp Mahleb, Ground (wild cherry)
- ⅛ Cup Granulated Sugar
- ½ Cup Milk, Warmed
- ½ tsp Yeast
- 2 Tbsp Orange Blossom Water (Mazaher)
Pistachio Filling
- 2 Cups Pistachios, Ground
- 3 Tbsp Granulated Sugar
- 1 Tbsp Orange Blossom Water (Mazaher)
Almond Filling
- 2 Cups Almonds, Ground
- 3 Tbsp Granulated Sugar
- 2 Tbsp Orange Blossom Water (Mazaher)
Date Filling
- 1 Cup Date Paste
- 1 Tbsp Orange Blossom Water (Mazaher)
- 1 Tbsp Clarified Butter, Room temperature
Instructions
One Day Before
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, semolina, sugar, mahleb and clarified butter
- Mix until fully combined and dough is soft (not sticky)
- Make the filling
Filling
- Pistachio (Oval Mold)
- Add the pistachios to a food processor and pulse until they are finely ground
- Remove from the food processor and mix in granulated sugar and orange blossom water
- Almond (Deep Round Mold)
- Add the Almonds to a food processor and pulse until they are finely ground
- Remove from the food processor and mix in granulated sugar and orange blossom water
- Dates (Shallow Round Mold)
- Combine Date Paste, orange blossom water and clarified butter and mix until fully combined
Baking Day
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper
- The day your are baking the cookies, combine the yeast with the warm milk
- Add the milk mixture to the dough (made night before) and then add the orange blossom water
- With your hands, knead the dough until dough is fully combined (it will be soft but make sure it is not sticky and don't over mix)
Start Molding
- Press a 2 inch round piece of dough into the Ma’amoul mold until it has formed the shape of the mold and is not to thick
- Place a teaspoon of filling into the dough cavity
- Pinch the dough together to seal the filling from coming out and remove any extra dough
- Once the dough is sealed, flatten the dough on the top of the cookie into the mold to make sure you get the best impression on the dough
- Turn the mold over and hit it against your work surface (wood cutting board…so you don't chip any countertops)
- Repeat this process with all the dough and the fillings
- Bake the cookies for 20 minutes or until they are lightly golden on the bottom
- Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool
- Dust with powdered sugar
- Serve or store in air tight container (these can last for 1 week)
Notes
- *Molds and hard to find ingredients can be found at Sara’s Bakery in Richardson or on Amazon!
Maria Karan says
Why do you need semilana when making Maamoul. It’s flour ok??
Kristen Massad says
Hi Maria,
Semolina flour comes from Durham wheat which is slightly more course and has a more earthy flavor than regular all purpose flour and this is the way that our family has always made it, but you can absolutely replace the semolina with all purpose flour. That texture and color might be slightly different but the cookies will still turn out great!
Terri Bumgarner says
Kristen,
Thank you so much for the article on Ma’amoul in the DMN. It brought back wonderful memories. My mom was Amy Massad and although she could make ma’amoul, her Mom was the best. And yes looks easy but.... thank you for reminding me of my heritage especially at this Eastertime. Thanks, Terri Massad Bumgarner
kristen massad says
Hi Terri! Thank you so much for sharing this with me! I knew Amy, she was such a wonderful lady! I love that this brought wonderful memories of her! I hope you had a great Easter
Kristen Massad