Traditional Palestinian cookies (Maamoul)

Ingredients:

Dough with melted butter

• 2 cups fine semolina
• 0.5 cups premium flour
• 3 tbsp. granulated sugar
• 0.5 tsp baking powder
• 140 g ghee, room temperature
• 0.5 cups of milk
• Powdered sugar for dusting cookies, optional
• Special equipment: mamul cookie cutter (optional)

Date filling

• 220 g of dates for baking (date paste)
• 1.5 tsp ghee + extra for greasing your hands
• 0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom

Preparation:

1. Dough with melted butter:
   
   Place the semolina, flour, granulated sugar, and baking powder in a large bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until evenly distributed. It's important not to knead the dough by hand from this point on, as the heat will cause the butter to separate from the dough, resulting in a dry dough. Combine the flour mixture with the ghee. The mixture will look crumbly. Gradually add the milk (2 tablespoons at a time) and stir until you have a soft dough that can be formed into small balls. It's best to add the milk gradually, so that the dough is smooth once all the milk has been added.
2. Date filling:
   
   Place the baking dates, ghee, cinnamon, and cardamom in a medium bowl and stir with a spoon until evenly distributed. Lightly oil your hands to prevent the filling from sticking, and form the filling into 40-45 small maamoula balls. If using a larger mold, shape the balls accordingly.
3. Preheat oven to 175°C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
4. Form 40-45 balls from the dough. Flatten the dough ball and place a date ball in the center. Pinch the edges of the dough to enclose the date ball and roll it between your hands to smooth out any cracks. Place the ball in the maamoula mold and gently press to imprint the design.
5. Tap the cookie cutter on a cutting board to release the cookies and place them smooth-side down on the prepared baking sheet. If you don't have a cookie cutter, simply flatten the filling into a 1-cm-thick disk and create a simple crisscross pattern by gently pressing a fork into the dough. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. You can space the cookies fairly close together on the baking sheet, as they won't expand.
6. Bake until the cookies are golden brown around the edges, 18-20 minutes. Let cool completely, then dust with powdered sugar, if desired.
   
   Date paste:
   The amount of date paste you need will depend on the size of the cookies you decide to make. If you have any extra filling, place it in a zip-lock bag, seal it, and refrigerate for up to 6 months. You can use this filling later for another batch of maamoul. If making the date paste from scratch, place 14-16 pitted Medjool dates in a food processor with 1 tablespoon of ghee, 0.5 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, and 0.5 teaspoon of ground cardamom and process until smooth.