When Ramadan ends, my family and I often find that we have a huge amount of dates left over that we don’t finish. A great way to use them up is by turning them into maamoul cookies! Maamoul is a traditional Middle Eastern shortbread that’s sweet, buttery and just melts in the mouth. It’s commonly stuffed with dates and nuts and is really popular on special occasions such as Eid!
I gave it a try and loved the end result! If you’d like to try it, check out the recipe below. I’ve added lots of pics to help you with the steps.
Making the cookie mix – 1) Add ghee and oil. 2) Mix. 3) Add dry ingredients. 4) Mix. 5) Make a well to prep for wet ingredients. 5) Add wet ingredients and mix.
Once everything is well combined it should look like this…
The cookie mix is then rolled into balls and are stuffed with dates and pistachios. My personal preference is the date filling!
Here’s how I stuffed the cookies and shaped them…
Ta daaaa!
Find all the details below! I hope you like the recipe and let me know if you try them out! 
- 500g semolina
- 150g ghee
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1 and 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup powdered milk (dry skimmed milk)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup milk
- 3 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1tsp yeast
- 1/4 cup rose water
- 300g dates
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp rose water
- 250g pistachios
- 6tbsp sugar
- 3tbsp water
- 1tsp rose water
- Begin by mixing the semolina, ghee and oil with your hands. Once everything has combined, cover and allow to rest for a minimum of 2 hours ( preferably overnight). This will help the semolina to soften.
- Make a well in the semolina mix and add in the flour, powdered milk, powdered sugar, nutmeg, baking powder and salt. Mix well using your hands.
- Next it's time to add the wet ingredients. Start by adding the 1/4 cup milk, rose water and vanilla extract to the semolina mix.
- In a separate bowl mix together the tsp of sugar, water and yeast. When the yeast starts to bubble add this to the semolina mix.
- Mix everything together with your hands until you have a dough like consistency.
- Now roll the dough into golf ball sized balls.
- Simply blend the dates in a grinder/blender/mixer. This will result in a thick sticky paste.
- Add the oil and rose water to the dates and mould it into bitesized balls.
- Grind 250g pistachios.
- Add 6tbsp sugar, 3tbsp water and 1tsp rose water. Mix until it forms a paste.
- Roll into bitesized balls.
- Make a hole in the cookie dough and push the date/pistachio ball into it. Cover the date/pistachio ball fully with the cookie dough.
- You can press the cookies into a mould if you want to shape them. Alternatively you could use a fork to do this or simply leave them be! :)
- Bake at 180 degrees C for 15-20 minutes until golden! :)
- Here's the mould that I used - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flower-Square-Wooden-Baking-Kitchen/dp/B071JS97JV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=30J4T1PYWDJEO&keywords=maamoul+mould&qid=1559381143&s=gateway&sprefix=maamoul+%2Caps%2C128&sr=8-1
Anonymous says
Your dough looks the best.
Winni says
These cookies are so delicious. I have tried them and I am making them once every week. They are so smooth just melt into mouth. The dough is amazing and I try once and twice little variation as well.