What is the significance of the mamool cookies for the speaker in the poem? part of the poem she was laughing a lot by then. telling of her life, patting my knee, answering questions. she had pulled a sack of homemade mamool cookies — little powdered sugar crumbly mounds stuffed with dates and nuts — from her bag — and was offering them to all the women at the gate. to my amazement, not a single woman declined one. it was like a sacrament.1 the traveler from argentina, the mom from california, the lovely woman from laredo — we were all covered with the same powdered sugar. and smiling. there is no better cookie.