It isn’t Easter in Lebanon, or in the homes of Maine families of Lebanese descent, without the small, half-moon cookies filled with nuts or dates.

It’s a tradition built on flour, butter, milk and sugar, flavored with anise and cherry seed in a yeast dough, shaped, filled and baked.

You just couldn’t consider it Easter without them, according to Laya Joseph and her brother Salim Nasr, who operate the Lebanese Bakery on Temple Street in Waterville. And neither one of them can remember why the Easter cookies are such a part of the tradition.

“When we were small, we didn’t ask. I wish we had,” Joseph said.

In their native Lebanon, the Maronite Catholic Church observes Easter as a two-day celebration on Sunday and Monday, Joseph said. It is a celebration that goes beyond a religious event to include visits and sharing with family and friends.

“Everything is closed on Monday,” she says, her voice spiced with a rich accent despite her 31 years in Waterville. “It’s a day you visit your neighbors, your family. You take the food, the cookies and share.”

It’s two days of food, food and more food, she said, laughing at the memories of the many dishes prepared for the celebration, and the 25 pounds, or more, of cookies that top it all off. Cooking begins days before the holiday and includes a family day for decorating Easter eggs and making the traditional cookies.

For the past 17 years, she and her brother have shared the tradition of homemade, wholesome foods native to their homeland at the tiny restaurant and bakery between Main and Front streets. Nasr has had opportunities to relocate and expand, but each time it has been better to maintain the successful business as it is.

Loyal customers flock to the small dining room both daily and annually. Customers who are visiting Waterville on business or pleasure rarely leave without stopping by to sample the traditional foods. Nasr counts many of his customers as friends, some who come from Bangor, Portland, Cape Elizabeth and Massachusetts.

“It’s like a family here. Your business is built on customers,” Nasr said.

Lebanese food is known as healthy food, all natural ingredients, no sugar, low salt, with an emphasis on flavor. The doughs for most of the food is cholesterol-free, Joseph said. And no sugar, except for sweet pastries, she added. The menu at the restaurant includes meat sandwiches, shawarma, kafta kebab and kibbe (ground lamb mixed with wheat and pine nuts), all made with beef and spices. The vegetarian offerings include falafel, a fried mixture of chickpeas, fava beans, parsley and garlic; tabbouleh, a parsley and tomato salad with onion, cracked wheat, fresh lemon juice and olive oil; and hummus, chickpeas blended in tahini (sesame seed) sauce with garlic, olive oil and lemon juice.

Many of the foods offered at the small restaurant are also part of a festive Easter dinner. This includes appetizer-size pies, fatayers, ground beef or spinach, with onions and spices. Lunches can be topped off with baklava, mamoule, diamond or date cookies, and Easter cookies in the season.

Years of preparing the traditional foods has locked their ingredients into Joseph’s mind. She lists the ingredients for the menu items without hesitation, right down to the teaspoon. When she works in the kitchen, there is very little measuring.

“A pinch of this, a pinch of that is good cooking. It’s how you like it,” Nasr said.

“Our food takes a long time to cook and prepare,” he explained. “It’s all from fresh ingredients, from scratch. Nothing canned or frozen.

“A Lebanese diet is healthy,” he continued. “It’s natural food. We were born to it. Now other people are coming to it. You don’t need vitamins. We use lots of vegetables.”

When Joseph makes Easter cookies, it is no small project.

Easter Cookies

5 pounds flour 1 1/2 pounds butter 4 cups milk 1 1/2 cups sugar 1 teaspoon mahleb (ground cherry seeds found at natural food stores; Joseph calls the ingredient “cherrystone.”) 1 1/2 tablespoons anise 2 to 3 tablespoons powdered yeast if you want to make the pastry quickly, or 1 to 2 squares cake yeast if can take your time.

Mix everything together to make the pastry and allow it to rise about an hour or until it doubles in size.

When the dough is ready, it can be cut into 4- to 5-inch circles, rolled flat, filled, and folded over to make a half-moon, and pinched together. Or the dough can be pressed into a mold, filled and covered with another shaped piece of dough. Pierce with a fork several times before baking.

The filling can be many things including chopped walnuts, dates or almonds mixed with sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees F. or until golden brown.

The cookies emerge as a miniature half-pie, golden, thick and sweet.

While Easter cookies are the traditional treat and dessert for the holiday dinner, or supper, the main dishes can be turkey, leg of lamb, chicken, kibbe (ground beef with cracked wheat baked with onions), or kafta (a seasoned beef dish).

Vegetables could include tabbouleh, hummus and grape leaves, but never cabbage.

“Cabbage is too cheap to serve to company,” Joseph said with a telltale smile that hints at the potential embarrassment of such an error.

Grape leaves are prepared with fresh leaves with a filling of rice and hamburg:

Stuffed grape leaves

1 cup rice 1 1/2 pounds ground beef, not too lean Salt and pepper to taste Grape leaves

Wash the rice and mix with the hamburg. Place on a grape leaf and roll it tight to look like a cigar. When all the rolls are done, place them in a pan or pot, cover with water and cook over medium heat for about a half-hour, checking occasionally to determine if the ingredients are cooking well.

To serve, season with lemon juice to taste and serve with yogurt on the side.

Canned or bottled grape leaves can be used if fresh leaves aren’t available, but they need to be washed thoroughly first.

Another simple dish to add to the festivities or an everyday meal is chicken and rice. Lebanese are fond of garlic, Joseph explained, but they wouldn’t dare use as much here as they might at home.

Chicken and Rice

1 whole fryer 1 pound hamburg 2 cups rice Salt and pepper Spices of choice

Boil the fryer until well done. Save the broth. Remove the skin and bones and chop the meat into smaller-than-bite-size pieces.

Cook the hamburg with a little of the chicken broth, no added oil or fats.

Cook two cups of rice in the chicken broth (two cups of rice takes about 4 cups of broth, Joseph said).

Drain the three ingredients and mix together, season with salt and pepper and any other spices.

Press mixture into a mold, but not before the garnish is added. Toasted walnuts, pine nuts or almonds can be placed in the bottom of the mold before the mixture is added. Once the mold is pressed firm and set, turn out onto a plate to serve.

The dish can be served with tabbouleh, hummus, green beans or kibbe.