Magic of Mimouna and a Walnut Cookie Recipe
They are perfect for a Mimouna table because they are flourless and can be baked during Passover, before Mimouna.
Mimouna is the joyous celebration of springtime and good fortune, of friends and family. It’s a huge party to mark the conclusion of Passover and to invite blessings for the beginning of the agricultural season. In Morocco, the doors of Jewish homes were opened wide and everyone was welcomed with the Judeo-Arabic blessing “Tirbah u’tissad,” may you prosper and succeed.
Traditionally, the Mimouna table is adorned with talismans of luck, fertility and prosperity. A whole fish on a platter. A green tree branch. Five gold coins in a bowl of flour and five fava beans arranged on a pastry.
Scholars don’t know the exact origins of the name and holiday. Does it mark the anniversary of the death of Maimon ben Yosef, the father of Maimonides? Does the name come from the Hebrew word for faith, “emunah”? Is it derived from the Arabic word for wealth “ma’amoun”?
Mimouna has become a widely celebrated and wildly popular event on the Jewish calendar in Israel and all over the world. The mimouna table overflows with sweet treats like whole oranges cooked with syrup and cinnamon sticks, eggplant jam, marzipan and meringues, as well as colorful cookies made with almonds, pistachios, walnuts and coconut. Of course, no celebration is complete without the famous moufleta, thin crepes served with butter and honey.
In Morocco, the flour used in moufletas was brought to Jewish homes by Muslim neighbors after sundown, proof of the level of friendship and cooperation that existed between the two faiths.
My father’s youngest brother, Uncle Albert, emigrated from Israel to America in the early 1970’s, after his marriage to a beautiful American airline hostess. With his help and encouragement, my family came from Casablanca to Los Angeles in late 1973. For many years, he was my father’s best friend and his lunch partner, especially after my mother passed away.
He was always at Shabbat and holiday meals at my parents home. Now I am blessed to host him at my table and he is beloved by my children and my nieces and nephews.
He is young at heart, a bit of a ladies’ man and an excellent story-teller. Many times, he will have us crying with laughter, regaling us with tales from his early days as a restaurateur in Los Angeles, when he was one of the owners of Le Petit Bistro, the very popular French restaurant that was once on La Cienega Boulevard.
He is a class act. Always perfectly dressed, with a subtle smell of cologne and a lot of quiet charm. He is a great cook and a fabulous baker. He is a lover of wine and good food and always up for a wonderful night out. Ladies, he’s a catch!
Every so often, he will spoil us with his homemade Linzer torte, packaged in a bakery box tied with grosgrain ribbon.
For Shabbat dinners, he will bring his amazing walnut cookies, packaged in a cellophane bag tied with a bright red ribbon.
Recently, I asked him to explain how he makes these Moroccan walnut cookies because they are so moist and delicious and chewy in the middle. They are perfect for a Mimouna table because they are flourless and can be baked during Passover, before Mimouna.
We hope you try my Uncle Albert’s fabulous walnut cookie recipe.
—Rachel
Moroccan Walnut Cookies
3 cups raw shelled walnuts
1 or 2 eggs
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground clove
½ cup powdered sugar, for rolling
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Grind walnuts finely, leaving some pieces.
Place the walnuts, sugar, cinnamon and clove in a medium bowl.
In a small dry bowl, beat one egg with a fork until foamy.
Using a soup spoon, add the egg to the nut mixture, one spoonful at a time.
Mix the nut and egg mixture by hand. When a handful of the dough sticks together, stop adding egg.
Form the nut dough into small balls and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Place in oven and bake for about 8 minutes. Use a knife to gently lift a cookie. If the cookie is firm and stays together and the bottom is golden, remove the tray from the oven. If the cookie is still too loose, continue baking for 2 more minutes, then check again.
Do not walk away as these cookies bake very quickly and once over-baked they will not have the desired chewy consistency.
Allow cookies to cool.
Roll the cookies in a small bowl filled with powdered sugar for a powdery coating.
Store cookies in an airtight container.
– Sharon
Sharon Gomperts and Rachel Emquies Sheff have been friends since high school. The Sephardic Spice Girls project has grown from their collaboration on events for the Sephardic Educational Center in Jerusalem. Follow them
on Instagram @sephardicspicegirls and on Facebook at Sephardic Spice SEC Food.
