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.

  

Snow Balls

I learned how to make this recipe from Aunt Jessy....I love this recipe because it is easy to make and taste amazingly good!!

Ingredients:

½ cup Powdered Sugar

1 cup Butter

1 cup Ground Nuts (Ground Almonds is my favourite!)

1 ¾ cup Flour

1 tsp Vanilla

Preaheat  oven to  gaz mark 5 (350F).  

Mix all ingredients together till you  have soft dough.

 Pinch a bit of dough and roll it up to a ball between your hands  and then place it on greased or greaseproof paper lined the baking tray. Repeat until the tray is full, leaving some space between the cookies. It makes about 30 balls.  Let it stand for 1hr. Bake on medium heat oven for 15-20 min or until golden. 

Before serving, sprinkle generously with powdered sugar.

Mum’s Fruit Cake

Mum’s fruit cake is the cake that we used to eat especially on Mother’s Day.

It was mum’s favourite and used to call it “Mums Cake” because it’s rich and full of ingredients.

Since this Sunday it is Mother’s Day... Happy Mother’s Day! 

 

Ingredients:

2 cups Flour

1 cup Sugar

½ cup Butter

½ cup Milk

1 cup diced Apple

½ cup Raisin

½ cup Walnut (chopped)

½ cup Dates (chopped)

2 Eggs

Zest orange or lemon

½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

½ tsp Baking Powder

½ tsp Cinnamon

 

Dice the apples, bake it saucepan on low heat with the half of sugar & cinnamon. Leave it to cool.  Mix the flour with walnuts, raisins, dates, baking powder & bicarbonate of soda.  In separate bowl, mix the butter, sugar, eggs & zest.   Add the flour mix gradually with the apple & milk to the butter & egg mixture.  With a spatula, mix them all together.

Pour in greased and flour dusted cake tray and bake in medium hot oven gas mark 5 (350F) for 35-40 mins or till the cake is done.  

Done when a toothpick comes out clean. Sahtein!

Tonia’s Sandwichet Lahmeh ( Tonia’s Meat Sandwiches)

Tonia’s version of meat sandwich or Lahmeh bil Ajin or meat pie........

Ingredients:

Dough:

5 cups Flour

1 cup Milk

1 cup Butter

1 tablespoon instant dry Yeast

1 tablespoon Sugar

Filling:

500g Minced Meat

1 Egg

1 Onion grated

1 Potato grated

1 Green Pepper grated

Seasoning: salt, pepper, cinnamon

Glazing:

 1 egg beaten

For the dough, mix the flour, yeast & sugar. Rub the butter with the flour mix. Add milk to form a soft dough. Let it rest for abit. In the meantime, prepare the filling. Mix all the filling ingredients together.

Roll half the dough on a floured surface. Cut circles with cutter ( 8cm) or tea cup. It would make about 18 sandwiches.

Add a heaped  teaspoon of filling in the middle of the circle & spread them in a line in the centre of the circle. Take opposite sides of the circle & close them together in the middle.

Put the Meat sandwich in greased tray.  Glaze each with the beaten egg. Repeat with the second half of the dough. It should make in total about 45 sandwiches.  Glaze each with the beaten egg. Keep spaces between the sandwiches.

 Cook in a medium hot oven till they are golden.

Saniyet Tamer (Date Cake)

A cake with a layer of dates in middle...A layer of cake, layer of dates & another layer of cake on top, almost like a sandwich.......

Ingredients:

Dough:

2 Eggs

1 cup Butter

1 cup Sugar

5 cups Flour

3/4 cup Yogurt

1 ½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

½ tsp Baking powder

Filling:

500g Dates (pitted or paste)

1 cup Walnuts (optional)

½ cup Sugar

1 Tbsp Butter

1 tsp Cinnamon

Handful of pine nuts for decoration

Mix all the dough ingredients together.  Let it rest for 10-15 min. As for the filling, chop the dates with a knife into small pieces and then mix them with the rest of the ingredients for the filling to form a compact mass. 
Grease the baking tray and dust with flour. 

Take half of the dough and roll it between 2 cling film or greaseproof papers.

Remove the top cling film & flip the dough onto the baking tray ; then remove the secong cling flim ( as it will hold the dough till you get it in the tray).

  
Repeat above with the filling. Roll the filling between 2 cling film or greaseproof papers and add it on top of the first half of the dough.

 Press it down with your fingers to stick it to the first layer.
Then, repeat the same with the second half of the dough and flop it on top of the filling in the baking tray. Press it down with your fingers.

Score the cake into rows and then diagonal lines inside the rows to form a trapezoid. Top every trapezoid with a pine nut.

Bake in a medium hot oven 350F or gas mark 5 for 30 - 40 min until golden. 

Cool and serve.

Baskot bil Debs (Carob Molasses Biscuits)

Old family recipe, pretty simple, very healthy and not too sweet...

Ingredients:

1 cup Butter

4 cups Flour

1 cup Debs el Kharob (Carob Molasses)

1 tsp Ginger

2 tsp Baking Powder

Rub butter & flour together in hands. Add debs (carob molasses), ginger & baking powder. Make it into soft dough. Divide the mixture in half. Roll each half into a big chunky rope.

 Put in freezer for 10 min till it becomes a sligthly hard as it will be easier to cut. Cut it into 1/2 cm slice.

Each half makes around 20 biscuits. 

 Put on greased or greaseproof paper lined baking tray in hot oven for
 10-15 minutes.

Satein! Bon Appetit!

Adas Bil Hamod ( Lentil Lemon Soup)

Adas bil Hamod is a lentil soup with spinach and lemon juice. When we were kids we used to call it Adas bil sharatit Lentil with bits referring to the spinach floating on top. It tastes amazingly good especially if you like your lemons!

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

½ cup Lentils

1 Onion chopped

2 cloves Garlic crushed

1 small Potato grated

2 Tbsp Coriander chopped

½  cup  Lemon juice ( add lemon juice to taste)

1 ltr Water

1 vegetable stock cube

50 g fresh Spinach chopped or torn

Heat oil in a saucepan. Add chopped onions and crushed garlic. Stir till onions begin to turn dark brown (about 5-8 min). Add in lentils, water and vegetable stock. Stir well to loosen the onions from the bottom of the saucepan.

Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, cover with lid, until lentils are tender (about 30 min).

Add coriander, spinach & lemon juice. Bring it to boil for couple of minutes and serve.