Ma’amoul Shortbread Cookies

Name: Ma’amoul Shortbread Cookies
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: Makes 26
Ingredients: 35 g/1¼ oz/¼ cup farina (potato starch); 2 tbsp caster/superfine sugar; 140 g/5 oz/1 cup semolina, plus extra for dusting; ¼ tsp orange blossom water; 1 tbsp caster/superfine sugar; 35 g/1¼ oz/¼ cup shelled unsalted pistachios; 1 tbsp orange blossom water; 75 g/2½ oz/5 tbsp butter, melted; icing/confectioners’ sugar, sifted, for dusting; ¼ tsp ground mahlab or ground almonds; a pinch of ground nutmeg; 1 tsp butter, melted; 35 g/1¼ oz/⅓ cup walnut pieces; 40 g/1½ oz/¼ cup pitted dates; 4–5 walnuts

Preparation info

Makes
26

Difficulty
Medium
Ready in
1 hr

Appears in

The Jewelled Kitchen

By Bethany Kehdy

Published 2013

About

These cookies are traditionally created using three beautiful wooden moulds, each engraved to identify their fillings.

Ingredients

140 g/5 oz/1 cup semolina, plus extra for dusting
35

Cookies
Vegetarian

Method

Put the semolina, farina, sugar and mahlab in a mixing bowl. Add the melted butter along with the orange blossom water and beat well. Knead the mixture for 3–4 minutes, working it into a pliable dough. Cover with cling film/plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
Meanwhile, prepare the fillings. For the pistachio filling, put the pistachios, sug