020 – Makrout – Moroccan Date Cookie

Ingredients :

Ingredients for the dough:
2 cups of cornmeal
1/3 cup of blossom water
1 stick of butter (8 tablespoon)
1 tablespoon of sugar
A pinch of salt
Ingredients for the filling:
2 cups of pitted dates
1 tablespoon of blossom water
1 tablespoon of butter
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
Other Ingredients:
Oil for frying
Honey
Blossom water

Directions :

Steps to make the dough:

1- Melt the butter.
2- Mix the cornmeal, sugar and salt.
3- Slowly add the melted butter to the cornmeal while mixing thoroughly.
4- Transfer the cornmeal mixture in a flat surface. Work the dough while adding the blossom water until you get a very smooth texture.

Note: You might need to slightly increase/reduce the amount of butter and blossom water depending on the quality of the cornmeal.

Steps to make the filling:

1- Steam the dates for 20 minutes until they soften.
2- In a food processor, mix the dates, the butter, the cinnamon and the ground nutmeg until you get a smooth date paste.

Steps to roll the Makrout:

1- Make a roll with the dough.
2- Make long rolls with the date paste.
3- Make an incision in the middle of the dough and widen by sculting the middle of the roll.
4- Place the date roll inside dough ‘tunnel’.
5- Close the dough roll by reshaping it by hand.
6- Cut the dough roll into diagonal pieces.

Steps to cook the Makrtout:

1- In very hot oil, fry the Makrout until golden brown.
2- Drain the Makrout from the excell oil and immediately dip it in the flavored honey. The honey should be warm and flavored with blossom water following your taste.
3- Let the Makrout cool down and serve them with Moroccan mint tea.