Ma'amoul (Nut-filled Cookies)

For the dough, place the flour, semolina, margarine, and oil in a food processor equipped with a steel blade.

Add the water gradually, pulsing until a soft dough is formed. Cover and set aside for 10–15 minutes in the refrigerator.

For the filling, combine the walnuts with the cinnamon and sugar.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Either use the ma'amoul mold described above or take a piece of dough about the size of a walnut.

Roll it into a ball and hollow out the center. Inside, place a heaping teaspoon of walnut filling. With your hands, mold the dough closed.

Continue with the rest of the dough.

Place the cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet. With the tines of a fork or tweezers with a serrated edge, make designs on the top of each cookie, being sure not to penetrate the crust.

Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. Do not brown; the cookies should look white. Cool. When hard, roll in confectioners' sugar.

Taste

Book, using the USDA Nutrition Database

Joan Nathan's books include The Jewish Holiday Kitchen, The Children's Jewish Holiday Kitchen, and Jewish Cooking in America, which won the IACP Julia Child Award for Best Cookbook of the Year in 1995 and the James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook. She contributes articles on international ethnic food and special holiday features to the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, Hadassah Magazine, Food & Wine, and Food Arts. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, Allan Gerson, and their three children.