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How to Make Knaafeh: String Pastry with Cheese

A Delicous Lebanese Sweet Desert that is a Must in all Households

Sep 8, 2009 Barbara Trejo

All bakeries everywhere carry this sinful dessert, full of cheese, a sugar syrup and knafeh strings. A desert that everyone will just beg for.

This scrumptious dessert is not just for Ramadan, but it is definitely served during those times. Traditionally, knaafeh is served at wedding parties, graduations, parties, engagements and just ordinary days. Knaafeh is seen all over the country and many shops have many different kinds, from the rolled cylinder type knaafeh, to the the triangle folded knafeh, to the regular kind in this recipe.

Whatever the choice is, the desert is worth the effort. Many use mozzarella or ricotta cheese as a substitution for the white cheese. Both ricotta and mozzarella are excellent and delicious in this dessert.

Knaafeh: String Pastry with Cheese Recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds of string pastry (store bought)
3/4 cups of butter or ghee (purified butter)
2 pound of white cheese unsalted

Note: If you buy the white cheese that has salt, just soak the cheese in water for one day and then change the water and soak again.

Atter

3 cups of sugar
1 cup of water
3 drops of lemon juice
1/4 cup of orange blossom water

Directions

Prepare a 25cm round shallow pan, by greasing the entire pan in ghee.
Prepare the atter syrup by bringing all the ingredients to boil and let boiling for 2 minutes. Let it cool now.
Heat the ghee or butter and then pour the ghee over the string pastry.
Stirring the pastry very good, make sure all the pastry is coated in the ghee.
Place the pastry on the round 25cm pan and bake in the oven until golden brown around 12-15 minutes.
While the cheese is cooking, cut the cheese in very thin strips of 1/2 inch cm and soak them in water for 10 minutes and then drain them.
Place the cheese slices over the knaafeh string pastry.
Place a very thin layer of the pastry over the cheese now.
Place a larger pan over top the 25cm pan and invert the pastry.
Cook in a low heat oven for 15 minutes.
Pour the atter on the knafeh when finished cooking and serve hot.

Note: This recipe may be doubled and using a 40 cm pan instead of the 25cm pan.

Any household will be running to the table, now that this wonderful dessert is finished cooking. Many cooks use a bit of red food coloring on the knaafeh strings to give it that traditional look. Almost all knaafeh has the red look. It is traditionally cut into squares and then placed on small plates and then additional syrup is poured on top.

It is not necessary to have more syrup, but it is desirable. Along side this dish you can place some nice date mamoul cookies.

http://arabicfood.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_make_date_cookies_mamoul

The copyright of the article How to Make Knaafeh: String Pastry with Cheese in Middle Eastern Cuisine is owned by Barbara Trejo. Permission to republish How to Make Knaafeh: String Pastry with Cheese in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.