Maamoul Recipe

A far easier way to make maamoul- in convenient bar form! This recipe is absolutely delicious, and will satisfy any maamoul craving you have with the fraction of the time and work!

Course Dessert

Cuisine Middle Eastern

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Resting Time 2 hours

Servings people

Calories 344kcal

Author Farah Abumaizar

Ingredients

For the dough:

2 cups coarse semolina flour 340g
1 cup fine semolina flour 160g
2 tablespoon granulated sugar 30g
1/2 teaspoon instant dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon ground mahleb see recipe notes*
1 cup ghee or clarified butter 210g , see recipe notes**
2 tablespoon rose water
2 tablespoon orange blossom water

For the filling:

600 g date paste (2 packed cups), 21 oz , see recipe notes***
1 teaspoon rose water
1 teaspoon orange blossom water
1/2 teaspoon ground mahleb
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder
pinch nutmeg

Instructions

For the dough:

In a large bowl mix the coarse semolina and fine semolina, sugar, yeast, and ground mahleb.
Add the clarified butter and rub the mixture together with the palm of your hands until mixture is fully combined.
Cover in plastic wrap and let it sit on the kitchen counter overnight or at least 2 hours to allow the semolina to absorb the ghee.
After resting the dough, add the rose and orange blossom water, mix and cover with plastic wrap for another hour. Meanwhile, make the filling.

For the date filling:

Mix together all filling ingredients with your hands, kneading until fully combined, set aside.

To assemble:

Once dough and filling are ready, heat the oven to 350 F (180C). Grease a 9x13 pan with a little ghee.
If semolina dough is too crumbly add 1-2 tablespoon of water and mix to combine. Divide the dough in half, and roll out each half to the size of the 9x13 pan. Transfer one layer of dough to the prepared pan and press into place.
Roll out the date filling into the same size, and place it on top of the dough in the pan
Roll out the second half of the dough, and place on top of the dates.
Using a sharp knife, cut diagonal slices 1.5inches apart, cutting all the way to the bottom of the pan. Cut the opposite side to make diamonds .
Bake 30 min or until top is light golden and edges are golden brown. Cool completely before removing from pan. Dust with confectioners sugar (icing sugar) before serving!

Notes

Recipe adapted from Tania Bakes

* Mahleb is a Middle Eastern spice, made from cherry stones that is commonly used in Middle Eastern breads, cakes and biscuits. If you can't find it, it's totally fine to omit it. You can add a little pinch of cinnamon instead.

** If you can't find ghee, you can clarify your own butter, follow this tutorial.

*** If you can't find ready made date paste (very commonly found in the Middle East) you can make your own by pitting and chopping medjool dates and processing into a paste.

Nutrition