"A very sensory experience": the magic of maamoul and how to make it yourself - recipe

Dania Roumieh loves maamoul so much that she wrote a short story about it. Antoinette Nader wishes to exhibit at her home the molds used for its manufacture. And Elias Jahshan's mother sends him a homemade care package every year.

Maamoul is a semolina-based biscuit filled with a variety of fillings - usually dates, pistachios or walnuts - often sprinkled with icing sugar. It is served in many Levantine cultures during holidays, including Easter or Eid al-Fitr, which fall only two weeks apart this year.

Nader says maamoul takes her back to her mother's kitchen, the smell of rose water and icing sugar. She kept all of her late mother's molds, knowing that good ones are now hard to come by. (I found mine after a years-long search, which sparked a flood of messages from people asking where they could get some, too.)

"I'm remember teaching my [religion] class on why maamoul is the Easter cookie," Nader explains. "The form is the tomb of Christ and the sweetness of the resurrection is hidden until Christ pierces the death."

Maamoul is so loved by the communities that make it, its mere mention can be transportative - a portal back in time.

Jahshan, who says he's "not so religious", enjoys the cookies that arrive at his London home, even knowing the contents will be "crumbled or crispy" from their journey.

For mother and daughter Sivine Tabbouch and Karima Chloe Hazim, maamoul runs in their blood.