Sitto’s Date Ma’moul

5 from 3 votes
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Date Ma’moul are traditional Lebanese shortbread cookies that are molded and filled. There are different shapes of molds, meant to indicate the different types of fillings. Walnuts, pistachios, and date paste are the classic fillings. Date Ma’moul is made for special occasions and holidays. Find pure Lebanese Orange Blossom Water in my shop!

Date Ma'moul Cookies with powdered sugar

Even more spectacular than the melt-in-your-mouth filled butter cookie that is ma’moul. . . even more than the aroma of such a thing baking . . . even more than the “thwack!” of every ma’moul released from its mold— even more than these indelible taste memories of ma’moul-making in my mother’s and grandmother’s kitchen growing up is another aspect of the recipe that isn’t written down.

Sitto's ma'moul recipe hand written

Perhaps it was just Mom and Sitto. Or several on any given baking day, with Aunt Hilda and Aunt Louise standing around the kitchen island each with their own mold and pile of flour at the ready.

No matter how few or many the ma’moul-making gathering was, it was always, always just that.

Molded ma'moul cookies on a sheet pan before baking
Baked date ma'moul on a sheet pan

They did together. Baking as event. Coffee and talk, how one’s mother did it this way and the other’s did it that way.

The mental drawing of the family tree came around on these days: which cousin was this one? Why did Jiddo go straight to Nebraska off the voyage? What was his father’s name again? Was he really an orphan? (honestly, if any of you in the local community here in Michigan knew him and can tell me, I’d love to know…)

We like to joke about how someone before us left out an ingredient in a recipe, and that must be why it never tastes as hers did. Pretty certain now that the ingredient, the thing that made everything taste so good back when, had to do with all of that togetherness, the this-is-what-we-do-as-family floating around in the flour dust of baking days. Here we have it, the most important ingredient never shown in Sitto’s ma’moul, or any of the recipes we inherited.

And one we keep striving to make a must-have tradition on any baking day.

Ma'moul mold coated with flour
Ma'moul mold filled with dough and dates
Molded ma'moul cookie next to a mold
Lebanese Date Maamoul Cookies with powdered sugar on a sheet pan
5 from 3 votes

Sitto’s Date Ma’amoul

By Maureen Abood
Ma'amoul are a traditional Lebanese shortbread cookie that is molded and filled. There are different shapes of molds, meant to indicate the different types of fillings. Walnuts, pistachios, and date paste are the classic fillings. This recipe is my adaptation of my grandmother's (Sitto, in Arabic).
Servings: 24 2-inch cookies

Ingredients 

For the dough:

  • 8 oz. clarified butter, at solid cool room temperature
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1/4 cup or juice of 1/2 Navel orange
  • 1 teaspoon orange blossom water
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon whiskey
  • 1/2 cup Confectioners sugar
  • 2 teaspoons mahleb
  • 4 1/2-5 cups cake flour

For the filling:

  • 10 oz. date paste (also known as “baking dates”) OR 10 ounces fresh pitted dates plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Instructions 

  • In a stand mixer or using a hand-held mixer, beat the butter in a large bowl until it’s creamy and light, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk, vanilla, orange blossom water, and whiskey. Beat again until the mixture is thick and creamy, another 3 minutes.
  • Sift into the butter mixture the confectioner’s sugar, cake flour, and mahleb. Use a wooden spoon to incorporate the dry ingredients. The dough will be crumbly at first, but when squeezed should hold together without cracking. If the dough seems too wet, add more cake flour 1 tablespoon at a time.
    If the dough is dry and cracking, add orange juice, 1 tablespoon at a time. After each small addition, squeeze a walnut-sized piece of dough in your hand to test how it holds together (looking for pliable and soft).
  • Allow the dough to rest for about 15 minutes, then squeeze a palmful again and adjust as needed to form a soft, pliable dough, taking care not to overwork the dough with your hands.
  • For the filling, if using fresh dates, finely chop them by hand or in the food processor. In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook the chopped dates with the butter,stirring until the dates are broken down to a paste. Cool.
  • Form this homemade or the premade date paste into small balls (coat your hands witha touch of oil or flour to prevent the date paste from sticking), using about1-1/2 teaspoons per ball. The size of your filling depends on the size of your cookie, so adjust as needed. This is for a 2-inch cookie mold.

To fill, shape, and bake:

  • Move the oven rack to the top third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper or Silpats.
  • Pull a piece of dough about the size of a walnut (1 ounce), shaping into a rough ball.
  • Coat the interior of a mold with flour, knocking out the excess. Don’t skip this step! Do it every time dough is pressed into the mold; it’s essential for releasing the molded dough. If the mold becomes caked with dough during the molding process, wipe it out with a towel or rinse and dry it.
  • Place a ball of dough into the mold. Press the dough ball into the mold, creating a hollow space in the center and pushing the dough up and over the perimeter edge. Fill the hollow with a date ball.
  • Cover the date ball with the dough, using a touch more dough as needed to seal the date ball inside the dough. Smooth the flat side of the dough numerous times with the tips and palm of the hand. Wipe the dough away from the cookie mold scallop edges so the base of the cookie will have precise lines.
  • Turn the mold over and decisively whack the top bottom-facing corner of the mold on the work surface to release the cookie. Better with one whack than two, to avoid mistakenly hitting the released cookie with the mold.
  • Transfer the ma'moul to the lined cookie sheet, spacing them about an inch apart.
  • Repeat this process with the rest of the dough and date filling, placing the cookies about an inch apart on the baking sheets.
  • Bake the cookies, one sheet pan at a time, for 15-17 minutes, or until the cookies are a very pale golden brown. Keep an eye on the cookies to monitor if they are beginning to crack at the top. If the tops begin to crack, immediately remove the cookies from the oven. Place the hot sheet pan on a cooling rack and leave the cookies undisturbed. Sift confectioners’ sugar over the cookies.

Notes

Storage and Tips

Flavoring Variations
Sitto used whiskey in her ma’moul, which contributes to meltaway texture of the cookie. Sub out more vanilla or flower water if you  prefer. Both orange blossom water and rose water are nice together in this recipe. Find pure high quality flower waters in my shop here.
Filling Variations
Nut fillings such as walnut or pistachio are traditional. I always toast the nuts first for best texture and flavor, then grind or finely chop them. Use about a cup of chopped nuts mixed with 1/4 cup granulated sugar and a teaspoon of orange blossom water. Fill the cookie dough with nuts using a teaspoon. Date filling can be studded with toasted nuts (massage the nuts into the date paste by hand) and also flavored with flower waters. 
Make Ahead
Store the baked cookies in an airtight container for up to two weeks at room temperature, or for two months frozen. Give the cookies a fresh dusting of confectioners’ sugar just before serving.

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Author: Maureen Abood
Servings: 24 2-inch cookies
Like this recipe? Leave a comment below!

Storage and other Tips

Flavoring Variations

Sitto used whiskey in her ma’moul, which contributes to meltaway texture of the cookie. Sub out more vanilla or flower water if you  prefer. Both orange blossom water and rose water are nice together in this recipe. Purchase high quality flower waters in my shop here.

Filling Variations

Nut fillings such as walnut or pistachio are traditional. I always toast the nuts first for best texture and flavor, then grind or finely chop them. Use about a cup of chopped nuts mixed with 1/4 cup granulated sugar and a teaspoon of orange blossom water. Fill the cookie dough with nuts using a teaspoon. Date filling can be studded with toasted nuts (massage the nuts into the date paste by hand) and also flavored with flower waters. Purchase excellent, soft date paste in my shop here.

About the Mold

Molding ma’amoul is great fun and results in such a gorgeous cookie! But the molds found in Middle Eastern markets today are not like our vintage molds. They aren’t deep enough, and the design is typically not very well cut in the wood. I developed a wonderful mold that is the closest thing I’ve seen in quality to the vintage wood molds–and perhaps even better, for precise designs and depth of the imprint.

Make Ahead

Store the baked cookies in an airtight container for up to two weeks at room temperature, or for two months frozen. Give the cookies a fresh dusting of confectioners’ sugar just before serving.

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8 Comments

  1. hi Maureen !
    I hope you are doing well 🙂
    Those look gorgeous and it’s this time of year again ! I can’t wait
    Just wanted to say that maamoul dough is traditionnaly made of semolina , a mix of fine and coarse semolina . No flour ! This may be a variation that your family enjoys but back in lebanon , maamoul has no flour . Actually , people started using flour in the last few years due to the economic crisis because flour is cheaper , but quickly got back to semolina because it tastes better . This is more like ghraybe stuffed with walnuts and dates .
    I encourage you to try it this upcoming season and I’m ready to share my recipe if you feel like it

    have a good day !

    1. My family loves these..my Mother used to make growing up too!
      I use a combo of cake flour and semolina, and I toast pecans, and incorporate them with mashed dates & a tad of whiskey for filling! I put 2 of these in little clear bags with pretty ribbon in the wedding welcome bag for guests at my daughters wedding, people LOVED them!

      1. Thank you Trina! The flour-semolina combo is excellent. And what a wonderful, special favor for your daughter’s wedding! Unforgettable.

    1. That’s so fun, a special tradition. Sitto would be so happy that we’re making and loving her recipe! Thank you!

  2. I forgot about these wonderful cookies my mother made, mostly during the holidays. I forgot about them until I actually came across a box of Ma’mouls at a Walmart! So surprised. There was a little section with things like pomegranate molasses, date paste and a few other middle-eastern foods. At a Walmart! I don’t know how or why I forgot about them – so of course I bought them (and have since bought another box) . Made in Saudi Arabia and they’re not half bad.

    They triggered memories of all the Lebanese sweets she made that I haven’t had in years. There was something she made that involved rolling the dough over a screen to make a pattern – I’ll have to find the name for those. I make many savory Lebanese dishes, but the sweets I’ve never attempted.

    I knew you’d have a recipe, and as soon as I get my broken oven fixed, I’m going to make these. Until then, the store-bought ones will have to do.