Shortbread cookies filled with dates

Menenas

The Sephardim have a unique tradition of reciting blessings, yehi ratsones, with each of the symbolic foods for the New Year dinner, which includes dates.

Menenas, similar to the ma’amoul cookies of the Levant, are crumbly semolina shortbread filled with a succulent, aromatic date and nut paste flavoured with orange that melt in your mouth are ideal for Rosh Hashanah.

The Sephardic womenfolk in Rhodes Island traditionally moulded menenas into oval shapes, decorating the pastry tops by pinching feathery designs with a pair of tweezers. Wooden moulds used to create ornate designs and shapes are an easy alternative or any decorative impressions could work. I like to crimp creative designs that look so festive dredged in confectioners’ sugar piled high on a platter. Enjoy these addictive menenas in good health. Beraja I salud!

For the filling:

1 cup walnuts or unblanched almonds, toasted for better flavour

7 ounce (200 g) lightly packed finely chopped pitted dates

¼ cup orange juice

2 ounces (50 g) unsalted butter

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon orange zest, finely grated

1 teaspoon orange blossom water

For the dough:

½ cup fine semolina

2¼ cups all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons confectioners’ (icing) sugar

9 ounces (250 g) unsalted butter, chilled and diced

1 tablespoon whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Prepare the filling: Pulse the walnuts or almonds in a food processor until coarsely chopped but not finely ground, or chop them by hand, to give the filling more crunch. Set aside.

Put the dates, orange juice, and butter in a skillet, and heat over a medium heat, mixing and smashing the dates with a fork, until a soft and paste-like mixture forms, about two minutes. Stir in the cinnamon, cloves, and orange zest. Remove from the heat. Add the nuts and orange blossom water. Transfer the paste on a plate in the refrigerator to cool.

Prepare the dough: combine the flour, semolina, baking powder, and confectioners’ sugar in a large bowl. Add the butter, and rub it into the flour with your fingertips, until the mixture looks grainy in texture. Add the milk and vanilla, and combine until the dough begins to hold together. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, and using the palms of your hands, knead gently for a minute or two. Chill the dough for 30 minutes.

Remove the date paste from the refrigerator. Take about 0.32 ounces (9g) and roll into balls between your palms, and set aside on a plate.

Arrange the oven racks in the lower and upper thirds of the oven, and preheat to 325°F (160°C). Line two baking trays with parchment paper.

Shape the cookies: Take the dough from the refrigerator, and divide it into about 0.7 ounce (20g) pieces. Roll each piece into a ball with your hands. The dough balls should be twice the diameter of the date balls.

Cradling the dough in the palm of your hand, gently pierce an indentation into the centre of each pastry ball with your fingertip. With the index finger and thumb work around the inside and outside of the dough until you form a ¼ inch (5 mm) thick shell. Push in one date ball into the centre of the dough shell and mould the edges of the pastry together over the top. Gently pinch to enclose and seal in the filling in even layers of dough, reshaping the stuffed dough into a ball. The date filling should be enveloped in an even layer of dough. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.

To shape the traditional way: form the filled dough into oval shapes and arrange on a baking tray with smooth side on the top. To make a pattern on the surface of the shortbread, pinch a feathered design with tweezers.

Bake for about 20 to 30 minutes, until firm and just starting to colour, rotating the baking sheets top to bottom, front to back halfway through. Take care that the menenas do not brown or they will be hard. Remove from the oven, and let the cookies sit on the baking tray for one minute, then carefully transfer to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature. Dust the menenas liberally with confectioners’ sugar while still warm.