Magrood — Print Recipe — The Culinary Codex

Golden semolina cookies filled with a spiced date paste and soaked in warm honey syrup. These beloved Libyan sweets are the jewel of every holiday cookie tray.

Ingredients

3 cups fine semolina
1/2 cup melted butter
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
Warm water to bind
300g pitted dates
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tbsp olive oil for dates
For syrup: 1 cup honey
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp orange blossom water

Instructions

1 Mix semolina with melted butter, oil, baking powder, and salt. Add warm water gradually to form a pliable dough. Rest 20 minutes.
2 Process dates with cinnamon, cloves, and olive oil into a smooth, thick paste.
3 Roll dough into long logs about 5cm wide. Make a channel down the center and pipe in the date paste.
4 Close the dough over the filling and seal. Cut into 4cm diamond shapes with a knife.
5 Deep-fry in vegetable oil at 170C for 3-4 minutes until golden, or bake at 180C for 20 minutes.
6 Warm honey with water and orange blossom water. Dip hot magrood in the syrup, then drain and cool on a rack.

Did You Know?

During Eid in Libya, the quality of a family's magrood is a matter of intense neighborhood pride and friendly competition.