Iraqi Date Maamoul
Moulded flour pastries with dates, butter and divided cardamom.
Preparation: 25 min · Cooking: 22 min · Total: 1 hr 5 min · 2 servings
Ingredients
- 120 ml Soft pitted dates, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp Pasteurized butter for date filling
- 0.5 tsp Ground cardamom, divided equally
- 240 ml All-purpose flour
- 80 ml Ghee, melted
- 45 ml Warm water for dough
- 1 tbsp Sugar
Instructions
Measure this recipe and prepare safely
For the base 2 servings of Iraqi Date Maamoul, measure the ingredient list before starting. Cup = 240 ml, tbsp = 15 ml and tsp = 5 ml. Keep raw foods separate from ready-to-eat food and refrigerate perishables until needed.
Preheat the oven
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a suitable baking tray with baking paper; no extra grease or mould flour is included.
Combine dough dry ingredients
Mix 240 ml flour with 1 tbsp sugar and 0.25 tsp cardamom for the base two servings. Reserve the other 0.25 tsp cardamom for the dates.
Rub in the ghee
Rub the measured 80 ml melted ghee into the flour with fingertips until evenly sandy.
Add the measured water
Add 45 ml warm water gradually to the sandy dough mixture. Do not silently add milk, rosewater or leavener from another formula.
Bring the dough together
Knead gently for about 2 minutes until cohesive; avoid prolonged toughening. Do not taste raw flour dough.
Bring the dough together: 120 seconds
Rest the dough
Rest the covered dough for about 15 minutes while preparing the filling.
Rest the dough: 900 seconds
Soften the date filling
Warm 120 ml chopped dates, 1 tbsp butter and the reserved 0.25 tsp cardamom over low heat. Mash from about 4 minutes until a soft paste forms.
Soften the date filling: 240 seconds
Cool filling for handling
Let the date filling cool until safe to touch. Divide all filling and all dough into matching manageable portions; the batch is not a guaranteed cookie count.
Fill and mould
Flatten each dough portion and enclose its matching date portion completely. Press gently in a clean mould or mark with a fork. Release onto the prepared tray with space between pieces.
Bake and check the pastry centre
Bake at 180°C, beginning checks at about 15 minutes; the supplied 15–18 minutes is an estimate. A test cookie must show fully cooked pastry around the dates, without raw dough. Pale-golden bases alone are not enough.
Bake and check the pastry centre: 900 seconds
Cool before serving
Cool the fragile pastries until safe to handle before serving. The darker date filling is distinct from any wet raw-dough line.
Portion and store safely
Cool safely in shallow portions and refrigerate promptly, aiming within 1 hour, at 4°C or colder. Use within 2 days. This is a selected conservative household limit, not a validated shelf life.
Tips
- Ingredient quantities scale exactly; instruction quantities describe the base 2-serving batch. Use equivalent vessels or manageable batches. Times remind you to check, not to ignore doneness.
Common mistakes
- Do not add ingredients from the previous scaffold or treat initial water, discarded process water and optional top-ups as one fixed consumed total.
Substitutions
- Only alternatives explicitly named in the ingredient list are included in this master.
Storage
Cool safely in shallow portions and refrigerate promptly, aiming within 1 hour, at 4°C or colder. Use within 2 days. This is a selected conservative household limit, not a validated shelf life.
Reheating
Serve cooled pastries without reheating if preferred; keep the remaining batch refrigerated.
About this recipe
Iraqi Date Maamoul is presented here as an owner-supplied Iraqi household version. Specific ancient origins or universal regional claims have not been independently verified.
Editorial approval does not establish independent kitchen testing. Check allergens and follow safe food handling.