Here is the recipe for the popular Arabic specialty served mostly in the Eids; Maamoul.
Maamoul can be filled with either dates, walnuts or pistachios.
Ingredients:
Dough:
six cups of semolina (smeed)
1 cup of coarse semolina (farkha)
3 cups of butter
1 small spoon of instant yeast dissolved in hot milk
1/2 cup of rose water
1/2 cup of orange blossom water
Filling:
2 cups of chopped pistachios
or
2 cups of chopped dates
or
2 cups of chopped walnuts
1 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of blossom water
1 cup of icing sugar
First of all and like any normal dough the more you leave it to rest and rise the better it is, so I advise you to mix it and leave it to rise over night.
Mix the semolina, coarse semolina, hot milk with the instant yeast and butter and when you have a hard mixture you can then add half the quantity of rose and blossom water and the other half mix it in the next day before making your Maamoul.
You can now prepare the filling by mixing in the blender the pistachios, walnuts or the dates each with one cup of sugar then add the blossom water.
And finally the tricky part! To give the Maamoul their special shape and design, you need to get the special wooden spoons for shaping each piece but if they are not available you can simply shape them into round balls and with use a fork to make a design on the top.
Take a small piece of dough roll it into a ball and then insert the fillings inside and close it, but if you have the wooden spoon you can then put the maamoul ball in it and press it to give it the correct shape.
When you roll all the remaining dough and fill them with the mixture of your choice you are then all ready to bake. Put some flour on a baking tray and put the Maamoul all around your tray, you can then bake them until the edges start changing their color into light brown.
Maamoul is served chilled with a sprinkle of icing sugar on top. SAHTEIN!
By guest writer Tam