Ramadan: I made Ma'moul today?

Question

If you are not familiar with Ma'moul, it's a date filled (sometimes it's substituted with a nut mixture, or figs) cookie eaten in the Middle East. This is more commonly consumed during Ramadan for Muslims, Easter for Christians, and Channukah, Purim and Rosh Hashanah among Jewish Arabs.

I tried for the first time today, I made up my own recipe for it since I don't have one and I don't like searching online. I used:

White flour - 2 C

Farina (semolina) - 1 C

Sugar - 1/3 C

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp

Butter - 1 C

Water - 1/2 C

Orange Blossom Water - 1 1/2 tbsp

Rose Water - 1 1/2 tbsp

And of course the filling was made of dates and butter, cooked on medium heat. So, they came out looking great, I even used the wooden spoons for shaping them. And they tasted good. The problem? It came out a little dry. I don't want to add more butter, that means more fat and it would taste too buttery. I was skeptical about adding water because it would be slightly gooey, cook less quickly, and taste more like a biscuit.

Ending up with the best Ma'moul will take lots of practice and experimenting. I was thinking reduce the amount of semolina and add more flour instead? I did a 2:1 ratio, 2 cups flour and 1 cup semolina. Semolina has a coarse and slightly sand like texture and helps with allowing the dough to crumble and separates the flour to get it from baking like brick.

Should I:

Add water?

Reduce amount of semolina?

Other?

I know this is the Ramadan section, but someone has got to know what I'm talking about. You know how you can never get homemade things to end up like store bought products? That's what my problem is now. I want it to be exactly like these (my favorite):

http://market.treasureshidden.com/images/702617.jpg

Probably is never going to happen. God forbid it has something to do with more chemicals, I wouldn't know where to get them!

I want to make a few dozens by next week for the Masjid. We'll see how it goes. I have seven days to experiment. Any suggestions? I would like personal ones, not from the internet, thanks!

Answer 1

Yummy, Am I invited ??

Answer 2

well if you want it to be more healthy, do as my mom does, she uses sesame oil instead of butter, it gives the same result soft ma'mool and same flavor, btw it is originally an Arabic sweet, how do you know about it?  

Answer 3

can u send me a sample,

i wanna see if urs are better then my mums

lol

Answer 4

I'd try it in Ramdan Inshallah.

thanks for the recipie!

thanks for answering me!