My mom and I have been on a candied orange peel kick lately. They’re somewhat sweet, mildly bitter with a delicious, chewy texture. They’re absolutely delicious stuffed in ma’amoul, usually prepared during Eid.

For a long time, my mom always made her dough using flour and semolina. One day, she came across Suha of Suha’s Dishes making an exclusive semolina-based dough recipe (she also has an accompanying video which you definitely should check out). While we still prefer the flour and farina dough for certain fillings, the semolina dough lends a perfect, nutty complexity to the candied orange peel.

You can totally use this same dough recipe to make more traditional date or pistachio-stuffed ma’amoul, which lots and lots of people prepare throughout the world. I’m going to stick with our original flour and semolina recipe for those, but for these candied orange peels? Straight up semolina is absolutely divine.

I hope you give this recipe a try! If you do, don’t forget to put it in the comments to let everyone know how it worked out. You can also tag @omayah.atassi and #omayahcooks on Instagram! I love to see your creations!

Semolina Ma’amoul with Candied Orange Peel

This dough recipe and technique was posted by Suha of Suha’s Kitchen with accompanying video, and it’s absolutely delicious stuffed with crushed up orange peel combined with orange blossom syrup.

Makes: About 50 cookies
Prep time:  1 hour, plus overnight rest
Cook time:  15 minutes

Ingredients:
3 c coarse semolina
3 c fine semolina
1/4 c granulated or castor sugar
1 tsp mahlab
2 c melted butter
1 tsp yeast
1 c orange blossom water

Filling:
2 c sugar
1 c orange blossom water
1 Tbsp lemon juice
16 oz./500 g candied orange peel

1 c powdered sugar

Instructions:


1. Combine the semolinas, sugar, mahlab and melted butter in a large bowl. Cover and allow to rest overnight to fully hydrate.

2. Make the syrup by combining the orange blossom and sugar in a medium saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 5 mins. Add the lemon juice. Store in an air-tight container on the counter up to 1 month.

3. Add the yeast to the bowl and gradually add in the orange blossom water, tossing gently, being careful not to rub the semolina together or squeeze. The mixture should be quite moist and form buttery balls easily with your hand. Cover and rest for 30 minutes. After resting, make sure that the dough is still quite moist, and add more orange blossom water if you need. You should be able to hear some squishing when squeezing it into your palm.

4. Crush the candied orange peels in a food processor and transfer to a medium-sized bowl. Mix with about 1/4 c of the orange blossom syrup, reserving the rest for later use.

5. Preheat the oven to 425°F/228°C. Form balls of dough slightly bigger than the size of your mold. Form the filling into smaller balls.

6. Take a ball of dough and hollow it out by pressing your index finger into the dough, using the palm of your opposite hand as a surface. Place the ball of filling inside the dough and close up around it. Press gently into your mold. If you don’t have a mold, it’s no big deal, just press down on your work surface so one side of the ball is flat.

7. Place on a baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough and filling.

8. Bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until golden. Allow to cool for about 30 mins before dusting with powdered sugar.

9. Store in an air-tight container, separating the layers of cookies with parchment. They keep at room temperature for about 2-3 weeks.