Recipe - Maamoul (Nut Filled Cookies)

DOUGH
2 One half cup Unbleached allpurpose flour
One half cup Semolina
2 One half Sticks pareve margarine or 2
sticks butter
2 teaspoon Vegetable oil
One fourth cup Water; (up to One half cup)

FILLING
1 One half cup Roughly ground walnuts
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
One half cup Sugar

1. Combine the flour, semolina, margarine and vegetable oil. Add the water
gradually. Blend well. (A food processor is splendid for this.) Cover and
set aside for 1015 minutes in the refrigerator.

2. Combine the walnuts with the cinnamon and sugar.

3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

4. Either use the ma'amoul mold described above or take a piece of the
dough about the size of a walnut. Roll it into a ball and hollow out the
center. Inside, place a heaping teaspoon of walnut filling. With your
hands, mold the dough closed.

5. Place each cookie on an ungreased cookie sheet. With the tines of a fork
or tweezers with a serrated edge, make designs on the top of a cookie,
being sure not to penetrate the crust.

6. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. Do not brown, the cookies should
look white. Cool. When hard, roll in confectioner's sugar.

Makes 3540.

NOTES: Ma'amoul means "filled" in Arabic. Ma'amouls are small imprinted
molds made of wood that have a handle attached. A piece of shortpastry
dough is pressed into these molds and date or nut filling is then enclosed
in the dough. Holding the handle, the mold is slammed on the table causing
the finished dough to drop out. The imprinted dough can then be rolled in
confectioner's sugar if so desired. If a mold is not available the cookies
can also be made using a tool of your choice.

These cookies are traditionally eaten at Purim in Middle Eastern
countries... especially in Syria, Lebanon and Egypt.

SOURCE: The Jewish Holiday Kitchen by Joan Nathan p. 227 Schocken Books NY
ISBN 080520900X

Recipe by: The Jewish Holiday Kitchen by Joan Nathan p.227 1988

Posted to JEWISHFOOD digest by Linda Shapiro lss@coconet.com on Feb 20,
1998