These traditional cookies originated in Aleppo, Syria. The unique appearance is achieved by rolling the dough into a ball, making a depression, filling, closing, and pinching with special tweezers.

Mamoul
- Cooking and Prep: 40 m
- Serves: 32
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Contains:
Ingredients (14)
Dough
Filling
Baking Tools
Start Cooking
Make the Mamoul
Yield: 65 cookies.
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Place all dough ingredients in the mixer bowl. On low speed and with the dough hook, combine everything into a soft, workable dough. Combine all the filling ingredients in a separate bowl.
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To assemble the cookies, pull off balls of dough and roll into rounds a bit less than an inch (4-cm) in diameter. Working with one at a time, place a round of dough in your palm, and use the other hand to make a depression in the dough. Gently widen the depression to form a well; it should look something like a flat piece of dough surrounded by “walls.”
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Fill this depression with chopped nuts and pinch the edges closed.
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Rotate the cookie until it is seam-side down, and pinch the top and sides of the cookie with special baking tweezers. (The tweezers are also used for fondant; you can buy them at baking supply stores.) Continue with the rest of the dough and filling.
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Transfer the finished cookies to a baking tray lined with Gefen Parchment Paper and bake at a bit less than 325 degrees Farenheit (160 degrees Celsius) for twenty minutes.
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Don’t wait for the cookies to turn brown; they are ready even though they remain light-colored (the bottoms will brown slightly). Avoid over-baking the cookie because the filling will harden too much. Remove the tray from the oven and cool. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.
The mamoul stays fresh for two weeks if kept in a sealed container, and much longer if frozen. (Freeze without the powdered sugar; sprinkle it on after defrosting somewhat and just before serving.)
To prevent the confectioners' sugar from being absorbed into the cookie, add a bit of potato starch at a ratio of one flat tablespoon of potato starch for every cup of confectioners' sugar. Commercially sold confectioners' sugar already contains a bit of potato starch or other starch to prevent absorption.