Ma'amoul - the middle-eastern pastry

Easter brings back great memories from my youth in Lebanon; sunny holidays, church memories, family visits, and of course ma’amoul baking. 

Ma’amoul is a middle-eastern pastry filled with walnuts, pistachios or dates. It’s a pastry made only for Easter. Molds are used to create those pastries. In fact, the design on the mold traditionally indicates which filling the cookie has, so you can choose between them without having to take a bite first. 

I remember we used to gather one week before Easter, mom used to make tons of ma’amoul and we used to spend long hours doing them. I loved making those pastries, handling the dough perfumed with rose water. Until today, I was only a helper, it was fun to fill the molds and knock them out on the baking pan. This year, I decided I wanted to make my own maa’moul. I got the recipe from mom while I was in Lebanon but I was dreading the fact of doing them alone. Well, I enjoyed making them, and they turned out really delicious. The first thing I did when I removed them from the oven and sprinkled them with icing sugar was to call mom and tell her: “I made it!!”. She was really proud of me, which made me even happier! So happy Easter everybody and enjoy the holiday!

Ingredients (around 70): 2 cups semolina, coarsely ground (smeed) - ½ cup semolina, finely ground (ferkha) - 1 cup (250g) soft butter - ½ cup sugar - ½ cup milk - ½ tsp active dry yeast - ½ tsp mahleb* - 1 tbsp rosewater - 1 tbsp orange flower water - confectioner's sugar for dusting

Filling: 2 cups chopped walnuts or unsalted pistachios - ¼ cup sugar - 1 tbsp rose or orange flower water

In a large bowl, place the semolina, the fine semolina, the sugar, the milk, the yeast, the mahleb and the butter. Rub the mixture in your fingers until it's flaky. Cover the bowl with a towel and and it let rest 12 hours.
After 12 hours, use your hands to soften the semolina mixture adding 1 tbsp rose water and 1 tbsp orange flower water. Mix to form a ball that is soft and somewhat sticky but manageable. Set aside.

Prepare the filling: Simply mix everything up well in a food processor. Put the filling in a small bowl and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Using your hands, form walnut-sized balls of dough. Flatten each piece of dough onto the palm of your hand, and push it till it's about a 3-inch circle. Place 1 ½  teaspoons of the nut filling in the center of the dough. Bring the edges of the dough up with your fingertips and press them together to seal the filling. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Press each filled ball into the ma'amoul mold to give it a decorated appearance. Then tap the cookies out onto the work area with a sharp firm hit to the top of the mold.
Prepare each one in this way and place them neatly in rows, on a greased/parchment paper lined baking tray.

Place the tray in a preheated oven at 350°F and bake for about 20 minutes. When they turn lightly golden, remove them from the oven and let them cool. Dust them with confectioner's sugar.

* Mahleb powder (ground black cherry pits) is available in Middle Eastern specialty markets.

 

Ma'amoul
Ingrédients (environ 70): 2 tasses de semoule ordinaire (smeed) - ½ tasse de semoule fine (ferkha) - 250 g de beurre mou - ½ tasse de sucre - ½ tasse de lait - ½ càc de levure instantanée - ½ càc de mahlep - 1 càs d'eau de rose - 1 càs d'eau de fleurs d'oranger - sucre glace pour la finition 

Garniture: 2 tasses de noix ou de pistaches hachés - ¼ tasse de sucre - 1 càs d'eau de rose or d'eau de fleurs d'oranger

Dans un grand bol, placez la semoule, la semoule fine, le sucre, le lait, la levure, le mahlep et le beurre. Frottez le mélange entre vos doigts. Couvrez d'un linge de cuisine et laissez reposer 12 heures.
Après 12 heures, pétrissez la pâte à la main pour ramollir le mélange de semoule en ajoutant 1 c. à soupe d'eau de rose et 1 c. à soupe d'eau de fleurs d'oranger. Mélangez jusqu'à obtenir une masse souple assez molle mais non collante. Réservez. 

Préparez la garniture: Mixez les ingrédients de la farce dans un robot. Placez-la dans un petit bol et réservez.  

Préchauffer le four à 180°C. Avec vos mains, formez des boules de la grosseur d'une noix. Aplatissez chaque morceau de pâte sur la paume de votre main, et avec le pouce creusez un trou au centre. Remplissez le trou d' 1 ½ c. à thé de la garniture aux noix. Refermez la pâte sur la garniture, soudez bien les bords. Répétez l'opération avec la pâte et la garniture restantes. Mettez la boule dans le moule à ma'amoul, pressez-la pour l'aplatir et réaliser une empreinte. Démoulez en tapant le moule légèrement sur votre surface de travail.   

Disposez les ma'amouls sur une plaque à pâtisserie légèrement beurrée.  

Faites les cuire au four préhauffé à 180ºC jusqu'à ce qu'ils soient légèrement dorés, environ 20 mn. Retirez-les du four, laissez-les refroidir et saupoudrez-les de sucre glace.