Maamoul / Cashew and Fig Stuffed Cookie

This Cashew and Fig stuffed Cookie is similar to the Maamoul or Ma'amoul from the Middle East. The Maamoul is a shortbread cookie with a sweet filling - most commonly dates and sometimes with pistachios or walnuts. This stuffed cookie is only mildly sweet unlike most cookies from around the world. A wide range of ingredients can be used as stuffing only that it should be dry so that the cookie dough is not moistened due to it. Today, I have used two different fillings to make these stuffed cookies - the smaller set with tutti frutti and the bigger one with fig and cashew nut mix.

This is a very easy recipe and all you need to do is measure the ingredients and make into a dough. And the stuffing can be of your choice and taste. But, truth said, my first batch of Maamoul did not turn out well - I used salted butter and it really tasted salty. Then the temperature and time I set my oven to was not right, it burnt my cookies. But I did another batch right away all the way through and managed to get it right. And now I have this recipe for keeps.

Ingredients
All Purpose flour / Maida - 2 cups
Powdered Sugar - 2/3 cup
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Butter, unsalted - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1/4 cup (maybe an additional 1 tbsp)
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt - a pinch
Powdered sugar for dusting - 1/4 cup
for filling
Figs, dry - 8 to 10
Cashew nuts - 20 to 25
Tutti frutti - 3 to 4 tbsp
I used two different fillings today - plain tutti frutti for one and a mix of the figs and cashew nuts for the other. Wash the figs well and dry them. In a blending jar add the cashew nuts and powder it then add the figs and pulse a few times till the two are well blended. Take it into a bowl and keep till ready to use.

In a bowl, mix together the all purpose flour, baking powder, salt and powder sugar. Melt the butter but use it only when it comes to room temperature. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the melted butter, oil and milk and with a soft hand make a ball of dough. This dough should not be over kneaded but just till the dough comes together.

Preheat the oven to 165 degrees Celsius.
Make equal sized balls of the cookie dough. I used a tablespoon measure to make 20 balls and then with the rest of the dough used a teaspoon measure to make 9 equal sized balls. Keep the dough balls in a covered container as you make the stuffed cookie. Take a ball of bough and massage between the palms into a ball then make an indent and put in the stuffing and pull the dough from all sides and cover the stuffing and softly roll in your hands to make it into a ball again. Flatten it slightly and place it on the baking tray. Do the same for all the balls of dough. Keep each of the cookies about 1 inch apart on the baking tray. Slide the tray into the oven and bake till the cookies are light golden which will take about 20 to 30 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool and then dust with powdered sugar and store in an airtight container.

 

 

My Maamoul / Cashew and Fig Stuffed Cookies are going to
- Valentine's Treat hosted by riappyayan
- Lets Cook Sweet Treats for Valentine hosted by Nayna
- Flavors of the World - Grand Finale hosted by Nayna

  

 

Jam Filled Thumbprint Cookies

Most of us have had those jam topped biscuits, in our childhood, with lot of glee. It was Parle or was it Britannia product? So, when I saw this recipe on the net, those memories of licking the jam off those biscuits came crowding back and I was impatient to try these Jam Filled Thumbprint Cookies. I made these for our friend's son, 'S', who loves all things sweet and is as sweet himself. He is so fond of sweets that after every meal he checks the refrigerator or kitchen cabinet for some sweet to have. And if he doesn't find any, he asks his mother why she couldn't stock up. I hope he likes these Jam Filled Thumbprint Cookies.

I came across this recipe by pure chance and decided to follow it to the 'T' and the outcome was delish! My husband so liked these cookies, I was sure there would be none to send to 'S', so I packed his box and kept it aside. I baked a few cookies with black grape jam and the others with cherry jam. The recipe given below is from this blog.

Ingredients (makes 33 cookies)
Butter - 1 cup
Sugar - 2/3 cup, granules
Egg Yolk - 2
All Purpose Flour - 2 cups
Vanilla essence - 1.5 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Assorted Jam - as required
Preheat the oven to 190 degree Celsius.

All ingredients should be at room temperature. If the sugar is big granules, powder it a bit so that it mixes well in the dough. Melt the butter and add the sugar and beat till light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time and beat till well incorporated. Add the vanilla essence and salt and mix. Then add the flour little by little and continue beating till the dough comes together. Since I have a hand blender once the flour had mixed in, I mixed the dough into a ball by hand.

 

Make equal sized balls of this dough and press an indent on it. I used a round tablespoon measure to measure equal balls and then shaped them with my hand. Then, I used the back of the quarter teaspoon measure to make the indent. Place these cookies 1 inch apart on a baking tray and bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until the cookie underside is light golden. Take the tray out and if the indent on the cookie appears shallow, press it a lightly again. Put a little jam on each of the cookies in the indents and bake again for 3 to 5 minutes or till the jam melts. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and once cool store it in jars.

 

My Jam Filled Thumbprint Cookies are going to
- Valentine's Treat hosted by riappyayan
- Lets Cook Sweet Treats for Valentine hosted by Nayna

  

 

 

Nankhatai - the Indian Eggless Cookie

 

The Nankhatai is the most recognized and celebrated cookie in India. It has a good penetration in urban and rural households since it is eggless and a pure vegetarian cookie. In India, although biscuits are more popular and common, most bakeries have local versions of cookies. The most common of them being the Nankhatai. It is so much a part of our daily fibre that in some hill stations, vendors make them fresh in a coal fired oven placed on their push cart. The Nankhatai could have been influenced by the English biscuits and scones and may not necessarily be completely Indian in origin.

Another fast disappearing feature in Mumbai is the bhaiya, who balancing a steel trunk on his head walked through lanes and by lanes hawking khari biscuit, jeera biscuit and nankhatais. When we were kids, mom would buy stuff occasionally from the bakery, till I insisted on trying the stuff once from the bhaiya and called him over. The biscuits and nankhatais were really fresh and from then on he came regularly to check if we wanted anything. In fact, he stopped only a year or two after my marriage when mom asked him to stop coming because of low consumption (after all the main gobbler - me was not around).

 

Today's recipe is this ubiquitous eggless cookie - the nankhatai. I made this nankhatai from the recipe given here.  

 

Ingredients

Maida - 1 cup

Caster Sugar - 1/2 cup (can be reduced if you dont want it too sweet)

Ghee - 1/2 cup
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Green cardamom - 4
Cream - 2 tbsp (optional)
Salt - a tiny pinch
Melt the ghee and keep aside to cool down. Powder the cardamom seeds finely. Mix together the cardamom powder and caster sugar. Mix or sift together the baking soda, salt and maida.

In a bowl pour in the ghee and add the sugar and mix well. Mix the maida into this ghee mixture little by little till all the maida in added in. Then with your fingers make this into a dough, in case the dough is sticky sprinkle a little maida and make into a dough. But if the dough turns powdery like mine did, add a little malai at a time to form into a ball of dough. Keep this dough aside for a minimum of an hour to 4 hours. I kept my dough overnight because the urge to bake struck me at 11.30pm and then waiting for an hour plus the baking time seemed too much.

So the next morning, I took the dough out again and I had to knead it a little again with warmed hands because the dough was stone cold from the Delhi temperatures. Equal sized balls have to be made and since I am slightly challenged that way, I used a tablespoon measure to scoop out each portion. Shape them into balls and flatten them slightly and arrange on an ungreased tray. Keep a distance of an inch between every nankhatai. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius, the original recipe stated 170 degree but I tweaked it based on my oven's performance. Place the tray in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Do check after about 17 minutes so it doesn't brown, if your oven heats fast then you may end up burning it.  

 Nankhatai baking in the oven

 

 

My Nankhatai - the Indian Eggless Cookie goes to this event -

Holiday Baking by Ammaji Recipes