by Fouad Kassab
As Easter approaches, one great way for me to connect with my memories of growing up in Lebanon is to make our traditional Easter sweets, maamoul. I remember being in the living room as a child, with my mum and four or five of her friends, making huge quantities of this delicious shortbread. This community of women would get together to collaborate on this mammoth project, entertain each other through hours of baking, and to supply their individual households with kilos and kilos of this highly sought-after delicacy. The ladies would have each prepared their pastry and fillings the night before at home. This is the easy part: the pastry is semolina kneaded with butter and scented with rosewater, and, sometimes orange blossom water. The fillings could be dates mixed with butter, or a variety of nuts – pistachios, almonds or walnuts – mixed with sugar and rosewater. The labour-intensive part is making the individual pastries. Though not particularly back breaking work, filling the pastry with dates or nuts, placing them in the specially designed maamoul moulds (different designs for different fillings) and then knocking the mould on a wooden board and filling up over a hundred trays requires patience and company.
48 Comments
Thank you so much, Fouad. My mum stopped making Maamoul once I could no longer have grains. She didn’t think it was right for the rest of the family to enjoy them, when I couldn’t. I will sneak her wooden moulds from her kitchen and make some for us all 🙂
Ahhh, awesome!! That is so cool! 🙂 Let us know what you think of them…we are sure you will love them!
The Macadamia & Currant Shortbread is awesome, so I can’t wait to try this recipe. I’ll be doing it as a slice I think.
Yay Judy! Post pics please! 🙂
Do u think i could suvsitute almond flower with cornmeal ?
I think they’d be too crumbly, sorry!!
Can’t wait to try this, thank you for sharing this recipe. My son would love this specially when he finds the filling. Awesome job sir, please do continue to share delicious recipes.
Awesome Anne! 🙂 Hope your son loves these (we think he will!!)
Just went out and bought a mould … will have a go at making them for Easter. They look amazing!
Yay Judith! Post pics!! 🙂
Judith, where did you find a mould? I can see some online from overseas but none in stores
From a Middle Eastern grocery store. I’m in Melbourne inner north, so there’s quite a few around here.
Oriental Deli in Artarmon has them
thats pretty straight forward for something so fancy and glutne free!
im going t try it neri
Let us know how you go Neri! These are fantastic! 🙂
Hi, These look delightful, but as I am also dairy free can I use Nuttelex instead of butter.
Annette
Hi Annette, thanks for your question. 🙂 We can’t recommend Nuttelex – coconut oil would be a healthier option, but we haven’t tested the recipe for that. If you give them a go, please let us know how they turn out. xx
They look so delicious and the interesting thing is that it’s gluten free which made me so excited. Thanks a lot for sharing the recipe 🙂
You’re very welcome Chelsea! Hope you give them a go and love them as much as we do! 🙂 xx
Can coconut oil or coconut yoghurt be used instead of butter to make a dairy free version of Gluten-Free Maamoul – Lebanese Easter Pastries?
Please give advice for a dairy free version.
Hi Lisa! 🙂 Coconut oil should work but we have not yet tested them ourselves. You may find the dough very soft to work with as we recommend using cold butter so perhaps try using cold (set) coconut oil or place the dough into the fridge for a while after making it, before shaping into pastries.
Thank you for sharing, these sound delicious and so simple!
You’re welcome Hanim! 🙂 These are simple and delicious – let us know if you give them a go!
Made these tonight. Can’t wait to try them. Unfortunately I had to use an online cup conversion as I couldn’t find my scales and I think i put a bit too much tapioca. Yummy regardless and I’ll see how they are cooled:)
How were they Hanim? 🙂
delicious! I can’t wait to make them again 🙂
Yay Hanim!! 🙂
Hi Jo! What is rosewater? where do you buy it?
Hi Lisa, rosewater is water infused with rose petals. To find rosewater near you, I would do a quick google search (you can buy it online but you may not have it in time for Easter). 🙂
HI Guys, do you think this would work without the filling?
Hi Katie, as there is no sweetener in the actual dough, they would be very bland. Is there a reason why you don’t want to use the filling? 🙂
These are absolutely beautiful! My family loved them, I think they’ll be an Easter tradition in our house! Thank you for sharing, happy Easter 🐣 🐰🐥
Thanks Taryn! We all love them too!! Happy Easter to you and your family as well. xx
Can I use gluten free all purpose flour instead? If so, how much do I need?
Hi Nesiba! We haven’t tested the Maamoul with GF flour so wouldn’t be able to tell you quantities, sorry! If you give them a go, let us know how they work out. xx
These look delish! Can’t wait until we can have butter and nuts again, and these will certainly be on the list!
They ARE delish Vic! 🙂 Hope you are able to make and enjoy them soon. xx
I was so happy to find your recipe last week and couldn’t wait to try them. I did today but replaced the butter with cold ghee butter since casein doesn’t sit well with me and my son. I also added extra 50 grams each of almond flour and tapioca since the dough was extremely sticky and I refrigerated it before working with it. I substituted one of the tbsp rose water with orange blossom. The taste is amazing and I’ve been missing it so much but… I felt that maybe it’s too much tapioca. Could the ghee have changed the texture? Have you experimented with more almond flour than tapioca?
Hi Sonia, thanks for your message! 🙂 Glad you found the flavour amazing! We extensively tested this recipe. Did you use tapioca flour or arrowroot (quite often these are used interchangeably) as we found using arrowroot really effected the end result (more soft and crumbly). We also found chilling the Maamoul was preferable in texture to eating them warm.
You are right, they are better enjoyed chilled. Yes I have followed your advise about using tapioca. I must confess that I’ve made them 3 times already (they don’t last 😉) but have now exchanged the amounts to 350g almond flour and 150 tapioca.. This works great for us. I also made the walnut/honey stuffed Maaloul. Delicious!!! Thank you so much for this recipe.
Yay Sonia, glad you’re loving them. They are so addictive, hey? 😉
I’m making these in few days time with ghee. Thank you Sonia for experimenting and posting your changes. I too am better without the dairy part of butter. Thanks
What is a TM bowl?
Hi, I made these last Easter and they were wonderful. My husband has requested them for his birthday…and I was wondering whether anyone has tried a pistachio filling instead (just to try another traditional version)? Wondering how much pistachio/sugar/orange blossom to mix up to fill this much pastry?
I am so keen to try this!!!! I’m palestinian and do no gluten+dairy+excessive sugar so finding an arabic dessert recipe i can do is amazing. thanks so much for this….please post more
Thank you for this recipe, I tried it yesterday but used ghee instead of butter, very tasty! Happy easter !!
Hi Jo, any ideas for a nut-free dough ? My 7yo son is making them for school show and tell and he can’t use nuts. (We’ve made them many times with nuts for home and they are awesome). Thanks, Anita
I’ve never tried them using seeds, I don’t think it would work too well, sorry. 🙁