← Nouns Cooking · Lebanese & Turkish

Ingredients

• 400 g fine semolina
• 60 g Plain (all-purpose) flour
• 200 g butter or ghee, melted
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 1 tbsp Rose water
• 1 tbsp Orange blossom water
• 100 ml warm milk
• ½ tsp Mahlab (ground cherry kernels) (optional)
• 350 g soft pitted dates or date paste
• 1 tbsp Butter, softened
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 tbsp icing sugar, to dust (optional)

Method

1. Pour the melted butter over the semolina and rub it in with your fingers for a few minutes, until every grain is coated. Cover and leave for at least 1 hour (or overnight) so the semolina softens.
2. For the filling, mash or knead the dates with the butter and cinnamon into a smooth paste, then roll into 30 small balls.
3. Add the flour, sugar, mahlab, rose water, orange blossom water and milk to the semolina and knead gently, just until it comes together as a soft dough. Rest for 15 min.
4. Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Take a walnut-sized piece of dough (about 30 g), flatten it in your palm, put a date ball in the middle and close the dough around it.
5. Press into a ma'amoul mould and tap it out onto a baking tray, or flatten slightly and pattern the tops with a fork.
6. Bake for 15–20 min until the bottoms are golden but the tops are still pale. Cool completely on the tray (they are fragile when warm), then dust with icing sugar.

Tips

• Fill some with chopped walnuts or pistachios mixed with sugar and rose water for the classic trio; these contain tree nuts.
• Stored airtight, they keep for 2 weeks and taste better after a day.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Falasteeni Foodie Chef in Disguise Mama's Lebanese Kitchen