Recipes

It is known that Syrians are famous for making sweets and delicious food. Today I wanted to share this recipe with you. Cheese Maamoul with dates is a delicious dessert that is always present in every Syrian house and is served especially on holidays and special occasions. Let’s start!

CHEESE MAAMOUL WITH DATES

Ingredients

• 7 cups of flour
• 250g of butter
• 250g of ghee for dough and 2 tsp for the stuffing
• 1/2 cup of cold liquid milk
• 6 pieces of soft cheese, for example, Kiri, Laughing Cow, or BabyBel
• 1 cup of powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp of yeast (optional)
• 1kg of dates
• 1 tsp of cinnamon

Preparation:

First, we will start preparing the Maamoul dough.

1. Put the flour in the bowl.
2. Add the butter and ghee. They should be more like a liquid, and put over the flour.
3. Rub the flour well with ghee and butter until the flour absorbs it.
4. Rub it for three minutes until the consistency of the dough becomes soft.

Next, we will prepare the cheese mixture:

• Use an electric chopper or a cocktail mixer.
• Put 6 pieces of cheese in the mixer. Add a cup of powdered sugar.
• Add half cup of cold liquid milk.
• Mix them well together.
• Add a quarter of teaspoon of yeast.

5. Then, put the mixture over the flour and knead a dough a little.
6. Then cover and put it to the refrigerator from an hour and a half to two hours (depending on the time you have).

As for the dates:

• Put the dates in the bowl and add teaspoon of cinnamon and two teaspoons of ghee and mix them together, then, shape them into balls.

7. Take the dough from the refrigerator. The dough will be a little hard, but after kneading, it becomes soft.
8. Cut the dough into small pieces, then knead it a little with your hands, and then shape it like a ball, then, make a dip in the middle and put dates inside and close it like a ball. You can also use a special piston to mold your balls. There is another mold that you can use. Distribute the dough on the entire mold and press it well until the inscription appears on it.

Now time for baking:

• Pre-heat the oven to 200F.
• Put your Mammoul cookies on the baking sheet.

First, bake the top, and when the color of maamoul changes to light pink, turn on the oven from the bottom. It will take about 8 to 10 minutes before it is ready.

You can serve it with coffee or juice!

Finally, I will share how to preserve Maamoul cheese cookies. We should keep them in the refrigerator because the dough contains cheese.

NOTE:

• You can use any type of flour you prefer.
• Cheese should not be salty.
• The longer you leave the dough in the refrigerator, the better results you will get.
• It is important that the dough is kept cold.