كنافة جى KÜNEFECI

General information

Künefe is a cheese pastry soaked in sweet sugar-based syrup, typical of the regions belonging to the former Ottoman Empire. It is a dessert specialty of the Turkish and famous in Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Syria and northern Egypt.

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The pastry is heated in butter, margarine, or palm oil, then spread with soft white cheese, such as Nabulsi cheese, and topped with more pastry.

The Turkish variant of the pastry kunefe is called 'Künefe' and the wirey shreds are called 'tel kadayıf'. A semi-soft cheese such as 'Urfa peyniri' (cheese of Urfa, or cheese of Hatay), made of raw milk, is used in the filling. In making the künefe, the kadayıf is not rolled around the cheese; instead, cheese is put in between two layers of wiry kadayıf. It is cooked in small copper plates, and then served very hot in syrup with clotted cream (kaymak) and topped with pistachios or walnuts. In the Künefe there is also yassı kadayıf and ekmek kadayıfı, none of which is made of wirey shreds.