Holiday Baking Tradition · Filled Semolina Cookies
Ma'amoul
Photo: روتانا / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0
Each filling traditionally gets its own mold shape, so a tray tells you whether a cookie holds dates, walnuts or pistachios before you take a bite — though which shape goes with which filling varies from family to family.
A semolina dough enriched with ghee is pressed by hand into carved wooden molds, filled with date paste, chopped walnuts, or ground pistachio, then baked until pale and dusted with powdered sugar. Mountain village kitchens around Aley and Bhamdoun spend whole days baking trays of it ahead of Easter and Eid.
Why it's made this way: Ma'amoul's mold-shaped, hand-filled preparation is a village baking tradition passed down through families, with relatives and neighbors gathering for long baking sessions in the run-up to Easter and Eid to make enough for the holiday visits.
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