knafeh

knafeh, traditional Middle Eastern pastry made from phyllo or semolina, layered with soft cheese filling, and covered with a sweet syrup. There are many regional variations of the dessert, which is popular throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and southeastern Europe for its mixture of sweet and salty flavors. The pastry is often served at celebrations, including religious holidays such as Ramadan, but it is also an everyday treat in many regions.

In some regional variations, the pastry of the dessert is shredded phyllo or semolina. In other variations, the pastry resembles vermicelli pasta. A filling of soft cheese—sometimes a lightly salty cheese such as Akkawi or Nabulsi cheese, or an unsalted cheese like mozzarella or a mozzarella-ricotta mixture—is added and a layer of the pastry is placed on top. After the knafeh is fried or baked, a simple syrup is poured over it, often a rose blossom simple syrup called attar. The dessert is sometimes served with orange blossom water, raisins, or other dried fruits. Chopped nuts, especially pistachios, often are sprinkled on top of the pastry. In some regions, knafeh is served with clotted cream or mascarpone cheese.

A popular variant called knafeh nabulseyeh (kunāfah nābulsiyyah), which is known primarily for its use of Nabulsi cheese, is dyed orange and covered with crushed pistachios. The style originated in the West Bank city of Nablus, and legend has it that in the 1850s a sweets maker there started using Nabulsi cheese in his knafeh when he ran out of nuts, a more typical filling in Middle Eastern sweets. It was so good, he began exclusively using the cheese.

In Turkey, the pastry batter is made of semolina, rather than phyllo, and an unsalted, stretchy regional cheese is used. The simple syrup contains lemon. The pastry is often served with a clotted cream called kaymak.