Maamoul: Date-Orange Stuffed Cookies

Plump, tender cookies filled with a sweet and spicy mixture of dates, orange, and ginger. These vegan treats have no refined sugar and just a touch of coconut oil. BTW, if you lightly toast them in the toaster oven, you might be tempted to call them Pop-Tarts. And if you don’t have time to make the date filling, use your favorite sugar-free jam or jelly!

Maamoul: Date-Orange Stuffed Cookies [Vegan]

Ingredients

For the Filling:

• 1/2 pound pitted Medjool dates, roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice, or water
• A pinch of sea salt
• 1-inch nob of fresh ginger, grated
• zest of 1/2 a large orange

For the Dough:

• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• A pinch of sea salt
• 3/4 cup non-dairy milk
• 1/2 cup tahini
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1 tablespoon coconut nectar, or maple syrup

Preparation

To Make the Filling:

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Place the filling ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and process until the dates are finely chopped. This will take a few minutes. Remove the date mixture from the bowl and set aside.
3. Clean out the food processor bowl.

To Make the Dough:

1. Put the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine.
2. In a bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the milk, tahini, coconut oil, and coconut nectar. With the food processor running, pour in the milk mixture until a ball is formed. You may need to scrape down the sides a few times.

To Make the Maamoul:

1. Sprinkle flour over your work surface and pat the dough into a circle. Flour the top. Roll the dough to about 1/4-inch thick and using a 3-inch round cutter, cut out as many circles as you can. Place them on the prepared baking sheet.
2. Roll up the scrapes, roll out, and cut more circles until you've used up as much dough as you can. You're aiming for 36 circles.
3. Using a teaspoon, scoop up the date mixture and place in the center on one of the dough circles. Continue until you've divided the date mixture between 18 of the dough circles. Lightly moisten the edges of the dough circles and taking the "plain" dough circles, place them on top of the date-filled dough circles. Crimp the edges with the tines of a fork and pierce the tops a few times.
4. Bake the maamoul for about 30 minutes, or until lightly browned on top. Let cool for a few minutes on the pans, then carefully remove the cookies and place on wire racks to cool completely.

Notes

The dough should be fairly sticky. However, it should be firm enough that when you coat your work surface with flour, you should be able to roll out the dough. If not, add more flour when processing - a little at a time - until the dough is tacky but manageable. Adapted from Food Network

https://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-recipe/maamoul-date-orange-stuffed-cookies/