Walnut Maamoul
Semolina shortbread pressed in a wooden mould around a spiced walnut filling. Made in trays before Eid, and the reason every family owns a mould they will not lend out.
Prep 60 min · Cook 20 min · Total 80 min · Difficulty: medium
Ingredients
For the dough
250 g
ghee or unsalted butter — melted
1/2 cup
milk — warm, added gradually
2 tbsp
orange blossom water
For the filling
2 cups
walnuts — coarsely chopped, not ground
1 tbsp
orange blossom water
Method
Rub the melted ghee into both semolinas with your hands until the mixture holds together when squeezed. Cover and leave it overnight at room temperature; this rest is what makes maamoul tender rather than sandy.
The next day, dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm milk and work it into the semolina along with the blossom and rose waters. Knead only until it comes together into a soft dough; overworking it makes the biscuits tough.
Mix the walnuts, sugar, cinnamon and blossom water. Keep the nuts coarse so the filling has texture against the soft crumb.
Take a walnut-sized piece of dough, hollow it with your thumb, spoon in filling, and close it over. Press into the mould, then knock the mould sharply against the edge of the table so the biscuit drops out.
Bake at 180C (350F) for 18 to 20 minutes. They should stay pale on top with only the base coloured; a browned maamoul has been overbaked and will be dry.
Cool completely on the tray before moving them, then dust generously with icing sugar. They firm up as they cool and will break if you lift them warm.
Notes
Different moulds mean different fillings: the round one is usually walnut, the domed one dates, the long one pistachio. That is how the tray gets read at a glance.
They keep for two weeks in a tin, and are better on the second day.