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Dessert is often front and centre at Eid celebrations, with ma’amoul foremost among those sweet treats.
Eid al-Fitr is a religious holiday marked by Muslims around the world at the end of Ramadan. It will be celebrated this weekend.
Ma’amoul is made with “simple ingredients,” including semolina flour, butter and sugar, noted Ali Seblini, owner of Yasmeen Bakery in Windsor, Ont.
Although some bakers get more creative, adding different fillings, he said the three classic ones are pistachios, dates or walnuts.
Seblini said they’re then topped with powdered sugar, except the date-filled ones because of their sweetness.
The amount of ma’amoul Seblini makes around Eid is uncountable, with thousands in the works for the holiday.
“Starting the day before, people start shopping for the Eid, they start getting ma’amoul, and when Eid comes, it’s a very busy day.”
Seblini’s father, Mohamad, started the business in 1998, and although he’s gone now, Seblini has continued his legacy.
Mohamad immigrated to Canada from Lebanon. A portrait of him hangs at the bakery, located on 1448 Wyandotte St. E.
Seblini’s father named Yasmeen Bakery after the Jasmine flower. He told him the flower’s white colour represents the cleanliness of the establishment, its scent represented good customer service, nd its beauty the good quality of the product.
For Seblini, ma’amoul is special because it helps him celebrate the end of Ramadan, which represents for him a month of “worship and purifying the soul through good deeds.”
“[Eid is] a celebration of the new improved self,” he said. “What is a better thing to celebrate than with a sweet reward, right?”
Eating ma’amoul ‘a relief’ after Ramadan
Nizam Pastry has been in business for 30 years now in Dearbown, Mich. It was started by Faisal Nizam’s father a few years after migrating to the U.S. from Lebanon.
Fifteen years ago, their Windsor location opened.
Every year, Nizam — who commutes every day to Windsor from Michigan — says he makes 20 to 30,000 of these filled cookies.
“It’s been a traditional dessert for Ramadan for ages,” he said. “It’s actually crazy the amount of ma’amoul we sell just on Eid alone.”
The bakery, at 460 Erie St. E., also gets busy at Easter.
“It’s always a big dessert on Easter for everybody that celebrates Easter also,” said Nizam, and said he sells just as much ma’moul during the Christian celebration.
For him, getting to eat ma’amoul is “a relief.”
“Ramadan is a tough month for us pastry shops … you’re fasting and you’re working with food from morning to night,” he said, but added, “It’s a beautiful holiday — we all get to celebrate something together.”
Nizam won’t have time to celebrate as he’ll be baking non-stop. He doesn’t regret coming into the pastry business though, and will try and make time to celebrate on Monday.
“I was seven, eight years old making pastries, so I don’t want to choose nothing other than this.”
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