Mahmool are the middle eastern version of wedding cookies – only on a grander scale. Stuffed with either a date or a walnut mixture, the exterior crunchy shortbread type cookie meshes beautifully with the sweet center.
| The Dough | The Filling |
| Flour – Sugar – Fine semolina – Butter – Sometimes I put a dash of rose water
|
Walnuts – Sugar – Rose water – Cinnamon Grind till course but don’t let it turn to butter! Date filling: Dates, walnuts (optional but highly recommended), |
1.The cookies are shaped using a tabi, a wooden mold from Syria. First, I press what will become the top of the mahmool into the tabi, creating a shell. 
I scoop some mixture in, then form the flat round bottom in my hand, and press it on top of the mixture, sealing the edges.
Note the nice design!
2. I tap the tabi against a hard surface to loosen the cookie, then
line them up on the tray.
3.The result is a firm yet tender consistency, slightly hard on the outside. Powdered sugar sifted over the warm cookies adds a nice sweetness to the otherwise fairly unsweet cookie. You sink your teeth in, sometimes getting only a piece of the dough on the first bite. Upon reaching the ground walnut or date mixture, the varying textures of smooth cookie dough with small crunchies of semolina, and light rose flavor fills the senses.
A delicious variation I invented when there’s leftover dough but not enough for a cookie:: Mix some walnut mixture with dough. Shape into balls and/or fingers. Leave some streaks of walnut mixture rather than blending it finely together.
Place the balls on the tray. The cookies, while they last, are very chewy inside, and not too sweet more more heavenly than wedding cookies or other walnut cookies. These can be baked along with the regular mahmool.
Do you need a tabi mold? Many people have asked me where to find them, so in a net search I found this site. I have no idea if they are reliable etc. Good luck!
