Ma’amoul

Semolina and butter are mixed and left to rest until the grain drinks the fat; the dough is then closed around a filling, pressed into a mould and baked. There is almost no sugar in the dough itself, and most of the sweetness comes from inside. The pattern on top is the mould’s work.

The mould tells you something

The wooden mould is called a tabe, and each shape stands for a filling: the flat round one is date, the domed or ridged one is walnut, another is pistachio. You can read a tray and know what is inside each piece. Mahlab, mastic and rose water go into the dough, and the scent comes from those three.

Which table

A holiday cookie. It is made in the last days of Ramadan and kept for the visitors of Eid; on Christian tables it does the same work at Easter. Plain Arabic coffee comes with it, and the plate stays out for days. On the Syrian coast, around Latakia, a cheese filling is also traditional.

Where to find it

Sweet shops keep it all year, but the freshest trays are the ones baked in the weeks before a feast, when they stack out to the front of the counter. It is sold by the box, and a mixed box gets you all three fillings at once.

A note for the road

Being a dry cookie, it is one of the few Syrian sweets that survives a suitcase. There is no syrup to leak and nothing to crush, and the pattern holds as long as you keep the box the right way up.