When I was making the classic ma’amoul I was already looking forward to trying out this classic New England variation with maple syrup and pecan nuts. The fragrant maple syrup tastes so good in this cookie and the pecan nuts make a perfect sticky filling. I shaped the cookies in the form of a maple leaf. I did not use a special mould, but just carefully shaped them with my hands.
Maple syrup pecan ma’amoul
(for about 25 cookies)
For the dough
200 grams fine semolina
50 grams coarse semolina
25 grams of sugar
pinch of salt
50 grams butter
40 milliliter maple syrup
½ teaspoon yeast
For the filling
250 grams pecan nuts
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2 tablespoons sugar
for the presentation
icing sugar
Mix the semolina with the sugar and the salt. Melt the butter and mix with the semolina and the maple syrup. Leave to rest overnight or at least 6 hours so the semolina can soak up the liquid. The next day mix in the yeast. Add enough water to form a dough that is soft and just slightly sticky. Leave to stand for 2 hours.
Blend together the dates with the butter until smooth. Chop the nuts with the sugar and the maple syrup in the food processor to a rough paste.
Form balls 3 cm out of the dough. Form balls of 1,5 cm out of the date paste and the pistachio paste. Flatten the dough balls into circles of about 7 cm diameter and place a filling ball in the middle. Make sure the filling is covered completely and roll into a ball. Carefully shape the balls in the form of a maple leaf and make shallow cuts or indentations to make the ribs I used a chopstick to press the lines in the dough. If you do use a knife, be carefull not to cut to deep, or the filling will spill out when baking. Put the cookies on a cookie sheet covered with baking paper
Preheat the oven to 160 °C or 325 °F . Cover a cookie sheet with baking paper and bake the cookies about 15 min. They should stay nice and pale. Take them out of the oven and leave to cool. Rub the cookies with some icing sugar and.
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