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Künefe

Name: Künefe
Total time: 40 min
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Turkey
Ingredients: 250g Kataifi Pastry (frozen); 250g Melting Cheese (mozzarella, etc.); 150g Butter (melted); 250g Sugar; 250ml Water; 1 tsp Lemon juice; 2 tbsp Pistachios (chopped)

Dessert

⏱ 40 min

👥 Serves 4

Difficulty ⭐⭐

Cheese sandwiched in kadayıf pastry, baked, and drenched in syrup — a classic Turkish dessert.

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📖 The Story Behind This Dish

Künefe is a traditional sweet said to come from Hatay in southern Turkey. Melting cheese is sandwiched between layers of shredded kadayıf pastry, baked until golden in butter, and soaked with syrup. Cutting into it fresh from the heat to see the cheese stretch is part of the appeal, and it's finished with a scatter of pistachios. The combination of sweet syrup and salty cheese is its hallmark.

🌆 Where it's eaten: At a sweet shop in southern Turkey, syrup is poured over a künefe just off the griddle the moment it's ordered, sending up fragrant steam.

🥕 Ingredients (serves 4)

Kataifi Pastry (frozen) 250g
Melting Cheese (mozzarella, etc.) 250g
Butter (melted) 150g
Sugar 250g
Water 250ml
Lemon juice 1 tsp
Pistachios (chopped) 2 tbsp

👩‍🍳 Instructions

Boil sugar and water in a pan, add lemon juice to make a syrup, and let cool.
Loosen the kadayıf and work in the melted butter well.
Press half the kadayıf into a round pan, add the cheese, and cover with the rest.
Cook in a frying pan or oven until golden brown on both sides.
Pour plenty of the cooled syrup over it while hot and scatter with pistachios.

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