Ma'amoul

chefsmall's Note:

These are delicious arabic biscuits / pastries, they can be made with a variety of fillings, including pistachios, walnuts or dates. They are often eaten in the Middle East as a celebratory food, for example at weddings, the end of ramadan, rosh hosana, christmas, easter etc. They contain very little sugar so they are quite healthy. The pistachios are considered the most desirable fillings. Almonds also work quite nicely though. NB: The folding (step 3.) does get easier, you will see this once you work out how to do it!!!

• Total Time: 25 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 20

Yield: 20.0 Biscuits

Pastry

• 2 cups flour
• 100 g butter
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon rose water
• 2 tablespoons milk (aprox., you can substitute for water.)

Filling

• 100 g pistachio nuts (not salty, shelled)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon rose water

Directions:

1. First make the pastry, by rubbing the butter into the flour and sugar until it resembles fine breadcrumbs, then add the rose water and milk. This should now be a smooth dough.
2. Make the filling by chopping the pistachios into small pieces and mixing with the sugar and rose water.
3. Take a small piece of pastry dough and flatten into a 3mm thick circle, using your hands (not a rolling pin). Pull three sides up and seel into a small bowl shape, put into the 'bowl' 1 tsp of the pistachio mixture. Then pull up the sides and seal in a 'twist' and the top - like a little bag. Turn over and lightly press down to flatten slightly into a circle, then using a tooth pick make a flower shape on the top. (or just a few small holes if you want.).
4. Repeat step 3 with remaining dough and mixture.
5. Bake at about 180C for about 10 - 15 minutes until VERY light brown. (they should still be soft and will harden up as they cool.).

Reviews

[Sephardi Kitchen]

I haven't tried this recipe (but plan to soon, after my final exams end!). I agree that 2 tbs milk + 1 tbs rose water does not look like nearly enough liquid for 2 cups of flour. However, to the previous rater who said the dough was bland-- I think a pinch of salt would fix that. Most doughs (even for cookies and pastries) turn out bland or sickly sweet if you don't add a little salt. If I try this recipe, I'll make an update to let you know how it goes!

[Chef #1295424]

Sorry, but the proportions were off on this one :-(. I double checked, and I followed the recipe word for word, but I ended up having to add nearly twice the amount of milk as was in the recipe, and my dough still turned out dry and bland. The filling was nice though.