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Dessert

Kanafeh

Kanafeh is a sweet cheese pastry made with shredded pastry, butter, cheese, and syrup flavored with lemon, rose, and orange blossom water.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Mozzarella cheese and cream cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 137 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Kanafeh

Serves 2
Oven400°F (204°C)
Total1 hr

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pastry

  1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat to 400°F (204°C).

  2. In a medium bowl, combine mozzarella cheese and cream cheese, then set aside.

  3. Slice the kadaif pastry crosswise into ¼–½-inch lengths and transfer to a large bowl.

  4. Pour the melted butter over the pastry.

  5. Using your hands, gently toss the pastry with the butter, ensuring that all the shreds are evenly coated. Continue this process for about 5 minutes.

Assemble and bake

  1. Transfer half of the coated pastry to the skillet, spreading it evenly along the bottom of the pan.

  2. Spread the cheese mixture evenly over the first layer of pastry, leaving a ½-inch border along the rim.

  3. Layer the remaining pastry over the cheese layer, firmly pressing it down.

  4. Bake the prepared pastry in the preheated oven until it turns deeply golden brown, which takes about 40 minutes.

Make the syrup and serve

  1. While the pastry bakes, prepare the syrup. In a saucepan, combine the sugar, lemon juice, and 1 cup of water.

  2. Simmer the syrup until it reaches a temperature of 234°F (112°C), or until a small amount dropped into ice water forms a soft ball consistency. Remove from the heat and cool.

  3. When the pastry is ready, add the rose water and orange blossom water to the syrup.

  4. Invert the cooked pastry onto a serving platter and drizzle it with the syrup. Sprinkle chopped walnuts over the top and serve immediately.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

435Calories
10 gProtein
31 gFat
34 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 10 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Cream Cheese1 oz (28g)99
Mozzarella Cheese1 oz (28g)85
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Walnut1 walnut half (4g)26
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Pastrynot in our table0
Rosenot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Mozzarella cheese + cream cheesetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together137 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Butter + cream cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,747 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Lemon + walnuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,149 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Rose + orangetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together876 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Kadaif pastry
Forms the crisp, shredded golden crust that holds the filling together.
Melted butter
Coats the shreds so they brown evenly and turn crisp in the oven.
Mozzarella cheese
Melts into a stretchy, savory layer that binds the pastry.
Cream cheese
Adds creaminess and tang to the cheese layer, keeping it soft after baking.
White sugar
Sweetens the syrup and helps it thicken as it simmers.
Walnuts
Add crunch and a toasty, nutty flavor on top.

The step that matters

Simmering the syrup to 234°F (112°C). Syrup that is cooked too little stays runny and soaks the pastry, while overcooking makes it hard and sticky. Reaching the soft-ball stage gives a balanced, thick syrup that clings to the crust.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, mozzarella cheese, cream cheese, lemon, rose, orange):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Walnutthe original
  3. Pistachiofits about as well
  4. Beansfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, mozzarella cheese, cream cheese, lemon, rose, orange. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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