Lebanese desserts include pastries, cakes, tarts, puddings, and preserved or dried fruit. Baklawa and ma’amoul are traditional pastries, while knafeh and mafroukeh are popular cakes. Puddings and fruit dipped in syrup are also common. Dried fruit and fig jam are popular as well.
Different types of Lebanese desserts include pastries and baked goods, cakes and tarts, and puddings, as well as canned fruit mixes. Plain preserved or dried fruit is also popular. Pastries and biscuits include traditional dishes such as Lebanese-style baklawa and semolina-based Easter cakes called ma’amoul. Knafeh and mafroukeh are traditional sweets and cakes of sweets, and various puddings use similar ingredients found throughout the cuisine such as rosewater and orange blossom. Figs can be preserved in a sweet and textured jam or dried for a snack.
Lebanese desserts include various sweets and baked goods. Perhaps the best known is baklawa, a rich, thick dessert made from layers of paper-thin phyllo dough and honey-soaked walnuts. In Lebanon, baklawa contains layers of sugared nuts between the dough and a honey topping.
Ma’amoul, or Easter cakes, are actually biscuits with semolina in the dough. The biscuits are lightly hollowed out and filled with nuts and flavors such as orange blossom and rose water. Specially carved spoons are traditionally made just for these cookies, the raw, filled dough is mashed and baked on the utensil.
Lebanese desserts also include a variety of cakes and tarts or custards. Knafeh, a dish originally from Palestine, is a traditional dessert in Lebanon. The phyllo ragged dough is mixed with butter, then layered with ricotta balls; a second layer of dough rich in butter completes the cake, together with pine nuts, pistachios and a sugary syrup. Mafroukeh is a pan-baked cake of semolina, sugar, and butter infused with sugar syrup, orange blossom, and rosewater, similar to Easter cookies. It is topped with a milk-based cream filling called kashta.
Various puddings and dessert fillings are the mainstays of Lebanese desserts. Plain rice puddings flavored with rose water or orange blossom are popular. Sahlab is a simple but very popular dessert and is little more than milk, cornstarch and sugar infused with rose or orange blossom water and topped with pistachios and cinnamon.
Many Lebanese desserts simply take a fruit, nut, or other main ingredient and dip it in a special syrup. Figs, dates, and even orange peel are commonly soaked in sugar overnight, then reduced to a thick, fruity syrup. Dishes like the murabba el balah stuffed date dessert featured a blanched almond placed inside the fruit.
Simple dried or preserved fruit also plays an important role in Lebanese desserts. Fig jam is common, made with sesame seeds, aniseed, and walnuts for texture and flavor. Dried figs and dates taste extremely sweet and can be served as a dessert on their own.
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