This year I wanted to come up with a healthier holiday cookie that doesn’t necessarily taste healthy. Something that I could serve to my family for dessert along with tea and coffee at one of my parents’ family dinners and have people be satisfied with dessert – not left wanting something else.

I’ve been in the mood for Ma’amoul, which are Middle Eastern filled cookies. Perhaps the most common filling for these cookies is dates, but my mother-in-law also makes versions with walnuts and pistachios. For the walnut, she makes two different flavors: 1) cinnamon and 2) rose and orange blossom water-scented. The cinnamon-walnut are my favorite (even rivaling the date-filled for me).…