Maqrouta/مقروطة

Maqrouta

Today calls for a delicious Palestinian dessert recipe! This sweet cookie is called maqrouta; it's very similar to maa'moul in that it is stuffed with date paste, but I find maqrouta tastier and much easier to make! It's kind of a twist on maa'moul itself and can also be made around Eid. I made this today in preparation for Eid al-Adha coming up this weekend so that I can give some away as little treats and serve some to our guests as well!

There are tons of recipes out there with different variations of ingredients and different ways to prepare this cookie, but I developed this recipe with the typical staple ingredients you'd find in this type of cookie plus a few extra for some added sweetness. 

If you try this recipe, I'd love to hear all about it!

MAQROUTA
Yields: 2-3 dozen cookies, depending on size

INGREDIENTS:
- 2 cups of flour
- 1/2 cup of semolina
- 1/2 tablespoon of active dry yeast
- 1.5 tablespoons of baking powder
- 1 teaspoon of ground mahlab
- dash of nutmeg
- dash of cinnamon
- dash of allspice
- 1/4 cup of sesame seeds
- 1/4 cup of nigella seeds
- 1/4 cup of anise seeds (half of this will be ground)
- 1/2 cup of olive oil
- 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
- half a stick of butter (4 tablespoons)
- 1/2 cup of milk
- 2 tablespoons of orange blossom water
- 1 package of Ziyad Brand baking dates
- drizzle of olive oil
- 1 teaspoon of orange blossom water
- dash of cinnamon

TO MAKE:
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add the flour, semolina, yeast, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, sesame seeds, nigella seeds, mahlab, and HALF of the 1/4 cup of anise seeds. Reserve half of the 1/4 cup of anise seeds and grind the rest of the seeds in a spice grinder on the fine setting until it becomes a powder. Or, if you have ground anise, just use that instead. Mix until well incorporated.
2. In a large glass measuring cup, add the 4 tablespoons of butter and melt in the microwave. Add in the olive oil and vegetable oil. With the mixer on slow, slowly drizzle in the oils/butter into the dry ingredients until everything is incorporated. 
3. In another measuring cup, heat up the milk for about 20 seconds. Add in the orange blossom water into the milk and mix.
4. With the mixer on low, slowly drizzle in the milk. You should see the dough coming together at this point. Take the dough out, form it into a ball, place it back into the mixer bowl. Cover it and let it rest for about 25 minutes. If the dough looks a bit dry, then add a little bit of water. If it's too sticky, add a little bit of flour.
5. As the dough is resting, prepare your date filling. In a bowl, add the baking dates, a drizzle of olive oil, the orange blossom water, and the cinnamon. Mix everything together with your hands just until everything is well incorporated into the dates.
6. Now it's time to assemble the maqrouta. Place a large piece of plastic wrap on your counter and sprinkle some flour on it. Add the maqrouta dough and using a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough into a nice rectangle. Trim the edges if needed. See the picture below for a visual:

A piece of the baking dates rolled into a log and placed onto the maqrouta.

7. Then, take a piece of the baking dates and roll it into an even log and place it at the left end of the dough. Pick up the edge of the plastic wrap, lifting up the maqrouta and roll it over the date log. See the picture below for a visual:

The date log is now enclosed with the maqrouta dough and ready to be cut vertically.

8. Now the date log is enclosed with the maqrouta. Carefully tuck in the edges into each other and using a pizza cutter, cut the whole log vertically. Repeat these steps until you run out of dough or dates.
9. Cut each maqrouta log into small pieces. You can make either straight cuts or slanted cuts. I did slanted cuts. 
10. Place the pieces of maqrouta on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper with space between each piece. This part is optional, but I melted a tiny bit of honey with some vanilla extract and gently brushed the tops of each cookie with the honey-vanilla syrup then sprinkled some sesame/nigella seeds. This part isn't necessary.
11. Place the cookies in a preheated 375 degree oven and bake the cookies for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool before enjoying.