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
Prep Time | 1 hr 30 |
Cook Time | 15 minutes |
Servings |
+people
|
- 26 ounces date paste date paste can be found in middle eastern stores, usually in 13 oz packages
- 4 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
Ingredients
Date Mixture
|
|
- Combine date paste and butter and work until smooth.
- 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.
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