Someone here posted a question about buying a mamoul
mold, and I thought mamoul sounded intriguing. So
I bought one and tried the recipe (below). The little
cakes looked great when they came out of the molds,
but looked like plain blobs when they came out of the
oven. Does anyone have a mamoul recipe that holds its
shape even after being cooked?

Thanks!

Jeneen

Mamoul

Dough
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. sugar
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 tbsp. rose or orange flower water
1/4 cup milk

Nut filling
2 cups finely chopped walnuts, almonds or pistachios
1cup sugar
1 tbsp. rosewater or cinnamon


Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar and butter, working
them together with your fingers. Add the flower water and the milk,
then mix and knead the dough until it is soft and pliable. Let the
dough rest for a half-hour.

For nut filling, combine the chopped nuts and sugar. Use rosewater
with almonds or pistachios, and cinnamon with walnuts.

Roll a walnut-sized lump of dough into a ball. Flatten the ball in the
palm of your hand. Fill the center of the patty with about 2 teaspoons
of filling. Bring up the edges of the patty, poke down the filling, and
pinch and smooth over the top to form a seamless ball again. Another
traditional shape is the crescent, formed by folding the patty in half
and pinching the edges to close it.

Put the mamoul, smoothest side up, onto a large baking sheet. Flatten lightly,
and make a pleasing pattern with a nut pick or fork. Bake for about 20 minutes;
remove the mamoul from the oven before they begin to turn brown. Cool completely
on a wire rack, then roll in confectioner's sugar. Store in an airtight container.