Knafeh is a wonderful ingredient: thin supple white threads that transform into a precious golden crunch in the oven and is one of the main components in various Arabic dessert recipes, along with rose water, pistachios & company.
One of my sweet-tooth favourites that I’ve been loving for years is “knafeh bil jibne” which means something like “cheese knafeh” (jibne = cheese). It is a wonderful scrumptious sinful dessert made of cheese (one with a very mild taste like mozzarella or ricotta for instance) stuffed in between a bottom and upper layer of knafeh generously rolled in melted butter and then finished with a blessing of syrup- the infamous syrup that so many Middle Eastern sweets swim in.
Generally knafeh bil jibne is prepared in gigantic round pans .and if you walk past a Middle Eastern pastry shop it would be exhibited behind vitrines alongside mountains of other sweets- thereby making it literally impossible to just walk past without stepping in first, making a purchase and leaving maybe with a regret for your waistline but cleverly coming up with millions of good excuses that it was worth it, that it was too hard to resist, that you’ll start your diet tomorrow, and that it’s the last time. But the truth is that it’s never the last time because no one can say no to the devil dressed in knafeh. And so this weekend I succumbed and wanted to make them in something other then a huge round pan. I kept all the key ingredients but just played around with the look to create knafeh bil jibnes that are not only delicious, but hopefully also pretty to look at.
Above: what knafeh looks like raw.
How to make it:
Preheat oven to 180C. In a deep pan, place the knafeh that you will be using and cover it with melted butter. Make sure all the knafeh is well rolled into the butter- you almost need to massage it with the butter. Then, bring your mozzarella balls and roll strands of knafeh around it until it turns out looking like a ball of knitting yarn. Place the knafeh balls in a buttered pan and bake in oven for about 15mins. I’d strongly recommend that as of 10mins, check your oven as knafeh can sometimes be unpredictable and burn quite fast! You’ll know it’s ready when it becomes of a beautiful luminous golden colour. While it’s in the oven, prepare the syrup: place equal amounts of sugar and water and boil for a good 10 mins (until it’s texture is rather thick). At the end, add some rose water to the syrup. When the knafeh bil jibne is out of the oven, immediately pour syrup (be very generous here, it needs a lot of syrup) on each ball. Sprinkle with crushed pistachios and decorate with a piece of candied fruit (optional).
