Mamoul (Date Filled Cookies)

I sometimes ask my friends at work for ideas about what cookies to make. This week a made an inquiry about what type of cookies I should make; and specific flavors that anyone wanted. I only got one response and it was for making a cookie with rose water. Hmm, that was not at all what I expected! I had to think about that but I was sure I could find something interesting.

I found some recipes online, but I found this recipe for Mamoul in Nick Malgieri’s Cookies Unlimited. I have had this cookbook for years but I don’t know that I have made anything from it. I thought the combination of rose water and dates would be great. This recipe had you make your own date jam but I had bought some date jam when I was in California a couple of weeks ago. Perfect. This is a little butter cookie stuffed with jam. Yum!

I don’t think that the rose water is very strong in these; maybe my rose water wasn’t fresh? I’ll not kid you: wrapping dough around a jam filling is tricky. My first few cookies were pretty ugly, but I eventually figured out a method that worked. Pricking the top of the cookies is to replicate how they look when you buy them in the Middle East. This was an interesting challenge for me, and they turned out to be great!

1-3/4 cups flour
12 tablespoons butter, cut in small pieces
2 teaspoons rose water
2 tablespoons milk
Date Jam*
Powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a food processor, pulse the flour and the butter until the mixture looks like crumbs. Sprinkle with the rose water and the milk and pulse again until the mixture forms a ball.

Divide the dough into 30 equal pieces. (I divided the dough in half and then divided from there.) Shape each piece of dough into a ball. Press your finger into the ball to make a hole and then flatten the dough out to make a little cup. Fill with about ¼ teaspoon date jam and then seal the dough around the filling. Place seam side down on the prepared baking sheet. Prick the top of the cookies with a fork.

Bake for about 20 minutes. The cookies should not brown. Once cool, dust heavily with powdered sugar.

*I had date jam at home. You can make your own by simmering ½ pound finely chopped dates and 3 tablespoons water in a medium saucepan over low heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally until thick and jam-like. Allow to cool.

Recipe from Cookies Unlimited by Nick Malgieri