Maa Maa Mack Meep

Have you any Maamoul?

These cookies are pretty fun to make, especially if you have pastry tweezers. I don't have pastry tweezers.



The recipe hails from the book what's cooking Jewish by Elizabeth Wolf-Cohen, and is a simple one. It's a Sephardic recipe, and the most refined version of these cookies is found in Morocco. Fillings can be date (seen here) or walnuts and pistachios.

You'll need:
6 oz/175g flour
2 tbsp sugar
3 oz/85 g unsalted butter
1 tbsp rosewater (or orange flowerwater)
2-3 tbsp milk
powdered sugar

2/3 c pitted dried dates, chopped
102 tsp more of rosewater (or orange flowerwater)

Preheat your oven to 325F, and grease a baking sheet.

With a food processor, combine rosewater and dates til smooth, adding a tbsp or two of boiling water if necessary. Set aside to cool. I let my filling stay a little too lumpy.

Now, sift flour into a large bowl and stir in the sugar. Cut in the butter, til *~FINE CRUMBS~*. Sprinkle over rosewater and 2 tbsp milk. Mix gently==> soft dough. Add more milk if necessary. Make a large ball, and pinch off pieces to shape 1 inch balls.



Press into the center of a ball, and rotate your finger to create a well. Add some filling, and pinch the edges of the dough together to seal it up.

Arrange all the cookies on the sheet 1 inch apart, seam-side down. Press balls into long leafy shapes, and use tweezers to pinch the tops 3 times (or craftily use two knives to do the same). Bake 20-25 minutes (until just set. Must remain pale!)

Let cool 10 min ==> sprinkle with powdered sugar ==>let cool completely ==>sprinkle once more.

I skipped the powdered sugar alltogether and still enjoyed my cookie experience.



-Anna

This raspberry walks into a bar..

I loved that Trader Joe's creativity so much.


So anyways. I've been meaning to bake with raspberries. I wanted to make muffins, but alas, the muffin forms were nowhere to be found. After a wild sort of a recipe hunt, I settled on oatmeal raspberry bars (RECIPE). Hot damn! I don't even like bars that are not lemon. And I especially don't like oatmeal. But this feels like the best dessert I've ever made. The crunchity-flaky exterior makes the edge pieces extra grand.

Mostly, I stuck to the recipe. I used a bit more salt. And I forgot to butter the 8inch pan before putting the buttered aluminum foil on it. Big whoop.

Biggest difference: I made my own filling. I took about a carton and a half of fresh raspberries and tossed them in a wide pan that had a bit of boiling water and a heaping tbsp-ful of honey in it. I boiled away most of the water, and was left with the most beautifully red and tangy "jam."



-Anna