Desserts
How to Make Kunafa with Cheese at Home
From A to Z, this recipe guides you step by step to make cheese kunafa the Lebanese way... two recipes in one: first, how to prepare the kunafa dough shreds, then how to make kunafa with cheese and syrup.
Total time30 min
Prep10 min
Cook20 min
Yield2 servings
DifficultyExpert
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Recipe tags
DessertsLevantVegetarianNut freeEgg freeBakedSteamedDessert
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 kilos Akawi cheese
- 2 tablespoons ghee
- Kunafa shreds *
- Syrup
- How to prepare the kunafa shreds:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups farikha flour, i.e. fine semolina
- 1 cup ghee, at room temperature or melted without reaching boiling point
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tablespoon orange blossom water
- How to prepare kunafa with cheese:
- This complete Lebanese-style cheese kunafa recipe comes to us today from:
- Norma Halawi
- Click on Norma's name to visit her special page, "Norma's Kitchen," on the What Are We Cooking Today? website and enjoy all her delicious, tested, and reliable recipes.
Method
- Put all the ingredients in a large bowl and knead them until you get a smooth dough. Spread the dough in a heavy-bottomed baking tray about 4 cm thick. Bake in a preheated oven at 150°C for 20 minutes, making sure to stir the dough so it dries on all sides without changing color.Timers: 20 min
- Remove the dough from the oven and let it come to room temperature... then grind it in an electric blender until fine... then pass it through a sieve and sift it to obtain kunafa shreds.
- Soak the Akawi cheese in water for several hours, making sure to change the water about 3 times... once the cheese has sweetened and the saltiness is gone, place it in a strainer to drain the water, then wrap it in a kitchen towel to absorb the remaining moisture.
- Brush a heavy-bottomed tray with ghee and sprinkle it with the previously prepared shreds.
- Press the kunafa shreds well into the tray and place it under the top heat of the oven, or inside the oven at 200°C, while turning the tray from time to time or moving it in a circular motion continuously...
- Meanwhile, place the drained cheese in a double boiler (a double boiler is a pot filled with boiling water, with a second pot placed on top; the cheese is placed in the top pot and melts from the rising steam) until it melts.
- When the shreds are browned, remove them from the oven and spread the melted cheese over them.... Cover the tray and let it rest for about 10 minutes... then loosen the sides slightly with a knife and invert it onto another tray, which must be larger than the baking tray....Timers: 10 min
- Pour syrup over the kunafa and serve immediately while hot....
