ByRose
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What is Knafeh (Kanafa)?
Knafeh is popular Lebanese and Middle Eastern dessert made with a layer of shredded Phyllo dough, a layer of sweet cheese and a special knafeh filling mixture. Lebanese knafeh is then topped with a simple syrup, making a delicious savory and sweet dessert. It is also known as kanafa, kunafa, kanafeh or knafe.
In Middle Eastern cuisine Knafeh is a traditional breakfast, much like waffles or pancakes in the US. This impressive dessert is best served hot or warm. Making knafeh looks more intimidating that it actually does. The hardest part about this recipe, is finding the ingredients, especially the phyllo dough.
Ingredients you Need to Make Lebanese Knafeh:
Shredded Phyllo Dough:
Shredded phyllo dough can be found at any Middle Eastern store or you can order it online. Our local Middle Eastern store carries Ziyad Brand Kataifi. Shredded phyllo dough comes frozen or dried, both work for this recipe. If you buy the frozen one, make sure it’s completely thawed and at room temperature before using. Once it’s thawed, you can then break it up into smaller pieces by pulsing it a few times in your food processor.
Cheese:
A mix of ricotta and mozzarella cheese.
Butter:
To mix it with shredded phyllo dough and create the knafeh crust.
Milk:
To make the knafeh filling.
Sugar:
Few tablespoons to sweeten the filling mixture.
Cream of wheat:
Or fine semolina flour, works as a thickener for the knafeh filling.
Simple syrup:
Can be easily made with sugar and water. I like to add rosewater and a slice of lemon for extra flavor.
How to Make Lebanese Knafeh Recipe:
- Make the Sugar Syrup: The first step to making this knafeh recipe, starts with making this simple sugar syrup- combine sugar and water in a small saucepan and place on a medium high heat, mix well until sugar is well dissolved and bring mixture to a boil. Stir in lemon juice, reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 8-10 minutes. remove from heat, stir in rose water if you’d like and set aside to cool down. Sugar syrup needs to be completely cooled down before topping the knafeh.
- Prepare phyllo dough crust: Place thawed phyllo dough in a food processor to finely shred it into smaller pieces. Transfer to a medium sized bowl, and mix with melted butter until all pieces are coated with butter.
- Prepare the cheese Mixture: In a medium size bowl, mix together shredded mozzarella cheese and ricotta cheese. I like to shred my own mozzarella cheese, but you can use the already shredded mozzarella bag. Make sure they are not salted.
- Make the knafeh cheesecake Filling: In a small non-stick pan, over medium heat combine milk, cream of wheat or fine semolina and sugar, whisking constantly to work out any lumps. Bring mixture to a boil then simmer for 5 minutes and until the mixture thickens.
Assemble the Kanafa:
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Coat the bottom of a 9-inch baking panwith baking spray.
- Add a layer of the buttered shredded Phyllo dough to bottom of the pan, spread it firmly and evenly.
- Add a layer of the shredded mozzarella and ricotta cheese mixture.
- Top the cheese with a layer of the knafeh filling.
- Bake until bubbly and browned a little on the side and top- about 40 minutes.
- Remove pan from oven and wait a few minutes just until its comfortable to handle but still warm.
- Using a butter knife, scrape the sides of the knafeh, if they are sticking to the sides of the pan.
- Invert (you might need kitchen mittens) the pan into a serving plate. The shredded Phyllo dough will be the top of the Knafeh.
- Pour half of the cooled sugar syrup over the knafeh and garnish with crushed pistachios on top of the knafeh, if using. Reserve the rest the sugar syrup for serving with each piece on the side.
- Enjoy!
More Lebanese Desserts?
Lebanese Milk Pudding- Mahalabia
Baklava
Date Roll Cookies
Sfouf- Lebanese Cake
If you like this knafeh Lebanese style recipe or any other recipe on The Salt and Sweet Kitchen, then don’t forget to rate the recipeand leave me a comment below! You can also follow me on my Instagram page for more recipes!
The Best Kanafeh Recipe:
Knafeh
Yield: 8 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Knafeh is a delicious Middle Eastern savory and sweet dessert.
Ingredients
- ½16 ounce box shredded phyllo dough, thawed
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter- melted
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
- Crushed pistachios - optional for garnishing
For Knafe Filling
- 3 cups whole milk
- 3 tablespoons cream of wheat or fine semolina flour
- 3 tablespoons sugar
For Rose water syrup
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice or a thin slice of a whole lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon rose water- if available
Instructions
Start by making the sugar syrup:
- In a small sauce pan, combine sugar and water over medium-high heat. Stir well.
- Bring mixture to a boil.
- Add lemon juice.
- Lower heat to medium low and simmer for another 10 minutes.
- Remove the syrup from the heat, add the rosewater, give it a quick stir.
- Set aside and let it completely cool down before topping your knafeh.
Get the Phyllo dough ready:
- Use a food processor to finely shred the Phyllo dough into smaller pieces. They will look about the size of vermicelli.
- Transfer to a medium sized bowl, and mix with melted butter until all pieces are coated with butter.
Make the Knafeh filling:
- In a small non-stick pan, over medium heat combine milk, cream of wheat and sugar, whisking constantly to work out any lumps.
- Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently until you bring the mixture to a boil and until the mixture thickens. (Frequent stirring is essential to avoid the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pan).
- Reduce heat to low and simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Set aside.
To get the Knafeh ready for baking:
- Preheat oven to 370 F.
- Coat the bottom of a 9-inch cheesecake springform pan with baking spray.
- Add the mixture of shredded Phyllo dough and butter to the bottom of the pan, spread it firmly and evenly.
- Add a layer of the shredded Mozzarella cheese.
- Top the pan with a layer of the knafeh mixture.
- Bake for 40 minutes. or until the sides are golden brown.
- Remove pan from oven and set aside until its comfortable to handle.
TO SERVE:
- Place a flat serving plate on top of the pan and using both hands flip the pan over onto the plate. Keep the pan in place upside down for a couple minutes to help keep the knafeh in shape.
- Then slowly start raising the pan to release the formed knafeh. The shredded Phyllo dough will be the top of the Kanafeh.
- Pour half of the cooled sugar syrup over the knafeh. Reserve the rest for serving with each piece.
- Garnish with crushed pistachios on top of the kanafeh, if using.
- Serve each Knafeh piece with the remaining sugar syrup on the side.
- Enjoy!
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 349Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 39mgSodium: 230mgCarbohydrates: 45gFiber: 1gSugar: 23gProtein: 10g
Please note that the nutrition label provided is an estimate based on an online nutrition calculator. It will vary based on the specific ingredients you use.
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