Maamoul

Maamoul is Lebanese shortbread pastry filled with dates, walnuts, pistachios or almonds. Our Family Maamoul is stuffed with a mix of pistachio, walnuts and almonds all together! The taste is so distinctive! Also, instead of using the maamoul molds, mum used to make us all help out decorating the maamoul using special brass tweezers.

Ingredients:

Dough:

1kg fine Semolina

½ kg Butter melted
1/2 cup Flour

½ cup mixed Rose Water

½ cup Orange Blossom Water

1 tablespoon of dried Yeast (I used dried instant Yeast)

Nuts filling:

1 cup Pistachios

1 cup Walnuts 

Maamoul molds (only had 2 designs out of 3)
& brass tweezers

 1 cup Almonds

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoon Rose Water

3 tablespoon Orange Blossom Water

Dates Filling:

500g Dates

½ cup Butter

½ teaspoon Miskeh/ Mastic

Mix fine semolina, melted butter and yeast together. Add Rose water and Orange blossom water gradually to make a dough and knead for a minute or two to be sure the dough is well blended. Cover dough and let stand for at least one hour.

Ground together all the nuts. Mix together ground nuts, sugar, rose water and orange blossom water till the mixture is crumbling together. Set aside.
Mix together dates, butter and mistek so that that mixture is like dough. Set aside.
Now we have both fillings ready. You will have enough dough to use  both of these fillings. Preheat the oven to gas mark 6 or 400F (200C).
Grease cookies sheet, or line with greaseproof paper.

 Knead dough again briefly, and form into walnut sized balls. Make a hole in the centre using your finger.

Fill the hole with a teaspoon of the nut mixture (or dates mixture), and seal the dough up over the hole.

Gently form into balls. Place into the maamoul mold , press in gently; level it up with the mold. Turn it round and gently tap on the worktop & the maamoul will come out. 

If you don’t have a mold you can make designs with brass tweezers or simply with a fork.  

Maamoul with dates

Maamoul with mixed nuts

 

   

Place it on baking tray, keep spaces between the maamoul.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly browned. Dust with powdered sugar while still warm if desired.

Usually we dust the maamoul stuffed with nuts and not the dates ones.

  

Rosto

Rosto is minced meat rolls filled with pistachio/olives/boiled eggs. It is a delicious starter and the filling can be one of your personal choice. Last Christmas we filled the rolls with cooked cranberries and added a bit of red wine to the meat!! Delicious!!

Ingredients:

500g Minced Meat

1 Egg

5 cloves crushed garlic ( I used garlic puree)

Seasoning: Salt, Pepper, Cinnamon

Filling: Pistachios (soaked in hot water than peeled) or pitted olives ( green   or black) or boiled eggs or cooked cranberries........

Mix the meat, egg, garlic and seasoning together. Divide the mixture in half.

pistachio

Green Olives

Take the first half spread it on cling film in a rectangular shape with ½ cm thickness. Spread the filling of your choice.

Roll it with the help of the cling film (make sure to keep the cling film on the outside!). Once rolled, twist the cling film on both ends & put in fridge for 20 min so the roll will stick together. Repeat with the other half.

Another option is to cover the boiled egg individually in your hand & then wrap them in cling film & put them in fridge for 20 min.

After 20 min, remove the roll from fridge, peel the cling film off. Seal the meat in a sauce pan on the hob . If your sauce pan doesn’t go in the oven, move the roll carefully to an oven tray. Before putting it in oven, add ½ cup of water ( or red wine if you like a bit of festivities!) in saucepan/ tray.

Then put it in hot oven gas mark 5 (350F) for 15- 20 min. Check on the rolls half way cooking and turn them to keep them golden all around.

Rosto stuffed olives  & egg

Rosto stuffed Pistachios

Leave it to cool for 1hr before cutting it into slices of 1/2cm thick.

Sahtein!