Delicious Makrouta Date Filled Cookies: A Taste of the Middle East

Make the spice mix “Kaak”

1. In the recipe you can use ready spice mix named “kaak” but if you can’t find it is easy to do your own spice mix. Start by grinding the spices that are in seed form. I grind fennel seeds, cardamom after taking out the seed from the pods and mastic gum. Added a bit of sugar to help the grinding process. Then added the mahalep powder and mixed.

The Cookie Dough

1. Combine the dry ingredients for the cookie dough in big mixing bowl; 2+1/2 cups of the flour, semolina, sugar, 1 heaped tbsp of the spice mix and a bit more and dry yeast. Make sure to sift the flour.
2. Melt the butter. Add over the dry ingredients along with vegetable oil and orange blossom water if you have. With a wooden spoon or by hand stir the mixture well.
3. Gradually add the milk while kneading the dough until it becomes smooth and no longer sticky. You can adjust the consistency with more flour if needed.
4. Allow the dough to rest for about an hour to let the semolina absorb the moisture. While the dough is resting, prepare the date filling.

Date Filling

1. Try to choose soft dates but medjool type can also work. On middle eastern soted they also sell ready date paste for this an similar recipes like “mamoul”. But I used soft dates in a box after pitting them.
2. Combine pitted dates with the remaining spice mix in. a food processor with cinnamon, a tbsp of water if your dates are hard, and a tablespoon of butter. Process until smooth. If the mixture is not stiff or light in color you can add a bit cocoa powder to adjust consistency. In the second batch I also added handful of walnuts and processed.

Assembling the Makrouta Date Filled Cookies

1. Divide the dough into two portions and roll each portion out on baking paper into about cm of thickness and rectangular.
2. Spread a layer of the date filling on one piece of dough and shape it.
3. Fold the sides of the dough over the filling, about 3-4 cm in from each side. Cut the folded dough in the middle, then fold the remaining portion to cover the sides of the cookies. Roll it in sesame seeds.
4. Cut the cookies into approximately 2 cm thick pieces. You can place them on the tray in the same direction you cut them, or follow the traditional method and don’t flip them.
5. Repeat the process for the second portion of the dough, adding cocoa powder and walnuts to the date filling to create a darker and slightly stiffer paste.

Baking and Enjoying Date Filled Cookies

1. Bake the Makrouta cookies in a preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes, rotating the trays to ensure even baking. The result is a delicious, crumbly, and crunchy cookie with a chewy, sweet date filling.