Atayef قطايف العيد
With Eid just around the corner, enjoy this delicious Middle Eastern delight! It is very easy to make and thanks to my friend & food blogger Nada @Beitroot, this recipe needs almost no resting time (for the impatient foodies)
The Atayef are traditionally filled with either unsalted sweet cheese, a mixture of any of hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, pistachios, and although commonly deep fried, this dessert can also be baked in the oven for a « healthier » version, although, the amount of butter added for the baking process makes it, in my opinion, as rich in calories as the fried version 😉
Sahtein and Happy Eid to all my friends in the Levant
Ingredients
- 1 cup Semolina
- 2 cups all purpose Flour
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 3 tbs Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Mastic (or Mahlab or Vanilla powder)
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 3 cups Water
- 1 tbs Orange Blossom
How to Make It
Step 1
*Make sure to prepare the sugar syrup ahead of time as it needs to be cold by the time you dip the Atayef in it. I made mine 2 hours before I started my Atayef
Step 2
Add all the ingredients into a large bowl
Step 3
Using a hand blender, bring the mixture to a fine texture, make sure there are no lumps
Step 4
Rest the batter for about 5 minutes
Step 5
Into a medium heated skillet, pour the equivalent of 1/4 cup of Atayef batter
It is important NOT to ever flip the pancake, and watch out for the formation of bubbles
Step 6
Once the top of the pancake has almost dried out, and the bubbles have dried, scrape off the pancake and place onto a plate and cover with a towel
It is important to cover the pancakes with a towel, otherwise they will dry out and you won’t be able to seal them later on
Step 7
Place one pancake into the palm of your hand, add your choice of filling, for my cheese and walnut filling, refer to my story
Using your fingers seal the pancakes into a half moon shape
Step 8
Bring some frying oil to 176°C and dip the pancakes in, flipping them often, for about 3 minutes or until just golden in colour
Place onto a kitchen towel to remove excess oil
Step 9
Dip the Atayef in cold sugar syrup and enjoy steaming hot 🙂
