corn flour

My wonderful, beautiful sister is getting married this month. I'm so elated to be in Pennsylvania for her special day and of course to help in the baking frenzy of 2017! My mom is the baking queen, well, only when it comes to Lebanese desserts! She has pages of recipes written in Arabic that have been tried, tested and changed over the years. There is also this amazing Lebanese cook book that is literally like a bible! Any Lebanese dessert I want to make, I check in with her first then the "bible". Whatever it is, it always comes out amazing. 

Dates are widely used in Lebanese desserts, especially in mammoul. Mammoul are a flaky cookie filled with either dates, walnuts or pistachio fillings. These cookies are a play on mammoul but a bit simpler and don't require the molds to shape. We make them super bite size because they are totally cute that way and give us an abundance of cookies. You can find baking dates at most Middle Eastern stores or online. 

The recipe for these cookies is in the above-mentioned "bible", after my mom translated the text for me, we got to work! The dough is so easy to work with and requires just minutes to put together. These 40+ dozen we made today (not lying about that) will make their debut at the wedding along with the other hundreds of desserts there! I hope you enjoy the recipe! I would love to see your creations! Tag me on Instagram @CosettesKitchen or post on my Facebook Page.

xoxo,
Cosette

A shot of the rolled date balls before stuffing them into the dough:

Before the cookies go into the oven, we used whatever tools we had in the kitchen to make the designs: spoon, knife, cake piping tip, dough wheel...whatever will make a good impression. 

Just a few of the many, many dozen that we made today! 

As featured on KATU Afternoon Live:

https://katu.com/afternoon-live/cooking-recipes/christmas-cookies-12-13-2018

Print Recipe

Lebanese Date Cookies

This recipe will make A LOT of cookies, especially if you make the very small sized as pictured. You can surely increase the size of the cookies to yield fewer.

Course

Dessert

Cuisine

Lebanese

Prep Time

1 hr 30

Cook Time

15 minutes

Servings

+people

Ingredients

Date Mixture

• 26 ounces date paste date paste can be found in middle eastern stores, usually in 13 oz packages
• 4 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

Cookie Dough

• 5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup corn flour **NOT cornmeal
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 cups unsalted butter, softened
• ½ teaspoon rose water **can use vanilla extract instead
• ½ teaspoon orange blossom water **can use vanilla extract instead
• ½ cup milk add more as needed

Course Dessert Cuisine Lebanese Prep Time 1 hr 30 Cook Time 15 minutes Servings +people Ingredients Date Mixture 26 ounces date paste date paste can be found in middle eastern stores, usually in 13 oz packages 4 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened Cookie Dough 5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1 cup corn flour **NOT cornmeal 1 cup powdered sugar 2 cups unsalted butter, softened ½ teaspoon rose water **can use vanilla extract instead ½ teaspoon orange blossom water **can use vanilla extract instead ½ cup milk add more as needed

Instructions

Date Mixture

1. Combine date paste and butter and work until smooth.
2. Form into small balls, the size depends on how large of a cookie you'd like. Can be anywhere from ½-1 teaspoon in size.

Cookie Dough

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line your cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. Set aside.
2. In a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine all the ingredients except the milk to form a cohesive dough.
3. Add the milk slowly once dough forms. Add additional milk if the dough seems dry or crumbly.

Form Cookies

1. Take a small scoop of your dough and flatten in your hand, place a date ball inside. Fold dough around the date and form into whatever shape you'd like. Round and long shapes are most common.
2. Place on prepared cookie sheet and create an impression using a fork, knife, dough wheel, cake tip or anything you find that will work.
3. Bake for 15-17 minutes on the middle rack. Bottoms should be slightly red and tops just beginning to brown.The cookies should not be too dark in color, they will remain fairly pale.
4. Remove from tray and let cool on cooling rack. Enjoy!

Recipe Notes

These cookies freeze well up to 3 months. Pull out baked cookies as you need them. 

Baking dates can be found online. 

Recipe adapted from Anahid's Gourmet Cookbook

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