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Ma'amoul ( ) is a filled butter cookie made with
semolina Semolina is the name given to roughly milled durum wheat mainly used in making pasta and sweet puddings. The term ''semolina'' is also used to designate coarse millings of other varieties of wheat, and sometimes other grains (such as rice or ma ...
flour. It is popular throughout the
Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...
. The filling can be made with dried fruits like figs, dates, or nuts such as
pistachios The pistachio (, ; ''Pistacia vera'') is a small to medium-sized tree of the Anacardiaceae, cashew family, originating in Iran. The tree produces nut (fruit)#Culinary definition and uses, seeds that are widely consumed as food. In 2022, world ...
or
walnut A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus '' Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an i ...
s, and occasionally
almonds The almond (''Prunus amygdalus'', syn. ''Prunus dulcis'') is a species of tree from the genus ''Prunus''. Along with the peach, it is classified in the subgenus ''Amygdalus'', distinguished from the other subgenera by corrugations on the sh ...
. Ma'amoul is usually made during the holidays of
Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...
, and a few days before Eid (then stored to be served with Arabic coffee and chocolate to guests who come during the holiday). It is popular throughout the
Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...
, especially in the
Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...
. They may be in the shape of balls, domed or flattened cookies. They can either be decorated by hand or be made in special wooden moulds called ''tabe''.


Variations

The cookies can be filled with nuts (commonly used nuts are pistachios, almonds or walnuts) or dried fruits, most commonly orange-scented date paste. In Turkey, maamouls are referred to as kömbe and the filling usually consists of crushed walnuts, ginger and cinnamon.


Etymology

The
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
word ( ) is derived from the Arabic verb (, meaning "to do").


Customs

While ma'amoul are consumed all-year long, they are most associated with
Eid Al-Fitr Eid al-Fitr () is the first of the two main Islamic holidays, festivals in Islam, the other being Eid al-Adha. It falls on the first day of Shawwal, the tenth month of the Islamic calendar. Eid al-Fitr is celebrated by Muslims worldwide becaus ...
or
iftar ''Iftar'' () is the Fasting in Islam, fast-breaking Supper, evening meal of Muslims in Ramadan at the time of ' (call to prayer) of the Maghrib prayer. Iftar is the second meal of the day; during Ramadan, the daily fast begins immediately a ...
as meals in celebration for the ending of
Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...
's fasting. For
Christian Arabs Arab Christians () are the Arabs who adhere to Christianity. The number of Arab Christians who live in the Middle East was estimated in 2012 to be between 10 and 15 million. Arab Christian communities can be found throughout the Arab world, bu ...
as well, ma'amoul is also part of the
Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...
celebrations. Ma'amoul was traditionally served by the
Sephardic Jewish Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
community of
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
during
Purim Purim (; , ) is a Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday that commemorates the saving of the Jews, Jewish people from Genocide, annihilation at the hands of an official of the Achaemenid Empire named Haman, as it is recounted in the Book of Esther (u ...
. It was described as the "
Sephardic Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
Hamantash A hamantash (: ''hamantashen''; also spelled ''hamantasch'', ''hamantaschen''; ''homentash'', : ''homentashn'', 'Haman pockets') is an Ashkenazi Jewish triangular filled-pocket pastry associated with the Jewish holiday of Purim. The name refer ...
".


See also


References


Further reading

* Farah, Madelain, ''Lebanese Cuisine: More than 200 Simple, Delicious, Authentic Recipes'': London: 2001 * Smouha, Patricia, ''Middle Eastern Cooking'', London 1955 ASIN: B0000CJAHX * Roden, Claudia, ''A New Book of Middle Eastern Food'': London 1986 * Roden, Claudia, ''The Book of Jewish Food'': New York 1997, London 1999 * Uvezian, Sonia, ''Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen: A Culinary Journey Through Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan'': 2004 , * Joan Nathan, ''The Jewish Holiday Kitchen'': New York 1988 * ''Joan Nathan's Jewish Holiday Cookbook'': 2004 ,


External links

* {{Cuisine of Lebanon Cookies Hanukkah foods Lebanese desserts Levantine cuisine Mizrahi Jewish cuisine Rosh Hashanah foods Sephardi Jewish cuisine Arab desserts Stuffed desserts Arab pastries Easter food Semolina dishes Lenten foods Jewish cookies