Sweet Treat

One of my Instagram friends emailed me the recipe to one of my favorites, Atayef, after I posted that I was craving it so so bad! I've seen recipes online but I prefer to use a recipe within a family/using a family recipe. The feel is just better receiving it that way than looking online. I've never had to make this because my aunt always does and makes TONS of it so I can take some for the road but now I find that I can't wait that long till the next time she makes it so I'm just going to have to make it today or tomorrow!

Atayef is somewhat similar to my other favorite, Knafeh, if you've tried that before. Just Knafeh uses shredded filo dough and the usage of sweet cheese combined with cream. I. love. them. both.

This is the recipe I'm using:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup of milk

1/2 cup of warm water

Big spoon of instant yeast

Small spoon of Sugar

Half of a small spoon of salt


Put a big spoon of flour, small spoon of sugar, and the yeast into a 1/2 cup of water, stir, and leave to ferment. I love the non-exact measurements!

Put the rest of the flour in a bowl, add warm water, and stir them together until you get a liquid dough. Then add the cup from the previous step and the milk; combine to remove any lumps.

Rub a hot pan with oil and pour the batter in small increments; batter will spread and get bigger, like a pancake. Don't flip it! It only gets cooked on one side.

Picture taken and sent to me from my Instagram friend.
Allow them to fully cool down before pinching half the 'pancake' together and *stuffing them with cream and pistachios or whatever you'd like to stuff them with.
*I saw different versions online like using a ricotta filling, chopped walnut-sugar blend, and the usual cream-pistachio blend. I prefer the cream-pistachio blend, I've tried the walnut-sugar blend and like it, and I'm interested in the ricotta filling as well. This just can't go wrong.

**Make a simple rose water/orange blossom syrup and pour over the Atayef when ready to eat.
**I prefer these without syrup. Normally my aunt doesn't sweeten the cream when she stuffs them and I'm fine with them that way but I will probably slightly sweeten the cream when I make these to make them more dessert-like.

***You can eat it like this or you can fry it after stuffing and closing them completely.
***I've never tried them fried! Maybe one day...

Take the time to make these today and you will love them too. A real treat.