Makroud: How To Make Fried Date-Filled Semolina Cookies

Makroud are one of the delicious culinary products of the Maghreb region. With a Tunisian-inspired recipe from the new cookbook Crumbs, a collection of treats from around the world compiled by food researcher Ben Mims, unpacks the cookies’ significance and explains how to make them.

Often credited as a speciality of the Tunisian city of Kairouan, this stuffed cookie is popular across the Maghreb countries of North Africa. Filled with a spiced, orange-scented date paste, makroud are sometimes referenced as a Berber form of maamoul, which is also often filled with dates. Unlike maamoul, these diamond-shaped cookies are traditionally deep-fried and then coated in a fragrant honey syrup.

The cookies are often eaten, again like maamoul, by Muslims throughout Ramadan and for the Eid holidays. For Sephardic Jews, the cookies are often served for Purim and Hanukkah. They are traditionally stamped using a makrout mold, but these are difficult to source; using a box grater and cutting the dough into diamonds, as this recipe does, is a common workaround in many recipes. The baking soda in the recipe helps to provide a little aeration to the dough, so it’s not so dense, but omit it if you like. But don’t omit the saffron; it’s essential to the flavour, and colour, of these rich cookies.

Crumbs: Cookies and Sweets from Around the World by Ben Mims, $80, published by Phaidon.

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