Palestinian Date cookies - Makrouta

Name: Palestinian Date cookies - Makrouta
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: Mix of date paste with cinnamon and cardamom; 2 cups all purpose flour; 1 cup very fine semolina; 3/4 cup vegetable olive mixed with 1/4 melted butter or ghee; 1 teaspoon instant dried yeast; 1 teaspoon anise powder; 2 tablespoons orange blossom water; 1 tablespoon sugar; 1 cup (more or less) of warm milk; Nigella seeds or sesame seeds

Linda L. @lindzi

Lebanese

Makrouta is the name of this type of date cookies. It’s originally from Palestine but very popular in the middle east. It’s prepared all year round but it’s a MUST for Eid with other types of cookies filled with dates or crushed nuts, such as Maamoul which is very similar but with more crumbly texture
#sweetbake #middleeastern #palestinian #dates

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Ingredients

Mix of date paste with cinnamon and cardamom
Transforming old dried date into smooth tasty paste
For the dough
2 cupsall purpose flour
1 cupvery fine semolina
3/4 cupvegetable olive mixed with 1/4 melted butter or ghee
1 teaspooninstant dried yeast
1 teaspoonanise powder
2 tablespoonsorange blossom water
1 tablespoonsugar
1 cup(more or less) of warm milk
Optional
Nigella seeds or sesame seeds

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Steps

1

Mix all the dry ingredients first (semolina, flour, sugar, yeast, anise powder)
2

Add the oil, butter and orange blossom water and mix the ingredients very well. The flour mixture will look crumbly like wet sand, not sticking together in a shape of dough but well covered with the oils.
3

You can add the sesame seeds at this point so it’s combined with the dough (i prefer it this way) or use it as a topping in the end before baking the cookies
4

Now start some of the milk and mix with your hand. Add a bit of milk at a time and stop when you have a nice dough formed. It shouldn’t stick to your fingers when you touch it. Set it aside to rest for around an hour or 2 (the longer the better so the semolina grains absorb all the oil)
5

The dough will not rise a lot after two hours and this is normal. Slice it into 4 rounded balls.
6

Using a rolling pin spread the dough. I put baking sheet under it because it’s easier and the dough doesn’t stick to the surface. Add around two tablespoons of the date paste and spread it evenly. Roll up the dough tightly like you’d do for Swiss roll.
7

For a straight roll i adjusted the edges with the help of the baking sheet.
8

If you want to add the sesame on top of the dougn instead then you’ll just have to spread some on the baking sheet and it’ll stick to the dough when you’re rolling it.
9

Press slightly with your hand to flatten the surface. Slice them into thick slices using a sharp knife and place on a baking tray, they will grow slightly in size so leave space between them.
10

Bake in a preheated oven on 180C for around 20 minutes, until light golden brown. Enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee 🤗