Qatayef - stuffed pancakes with cheese or walnuts

Other

Start by making your simple syrup: add sugar, water and lime juice to a small pot on medium heat.

Bring to a boil and then lower the heat and let simmer for an additional 8 minutes.

Once cooled, add rosewater/orange blossom water if using and let cool completely.

Add the water to blender, followed by the yeast, baking powder, sugar, fine semolina, flour, salt and vanilla extract. Blend on a medium-high speed for 20 seconds, until bubbles have formed on the surface.

Let rest for 20 minutes.

While the batter is resting prepare the nut filling by crushing the walnuts and/or pecans in a ziploc bag and crushing them with something heavy, like a rolling pin.

In a bowl combine the crushed nuts with the cinnamon and the sugar syrup or honey and set aside.

Crumble the sweet cheese in a bowl and set aside.

Prepare your workstation, heat a non-stick medium sized pan over low heat. Prepare two towels on the counter, one to lay your cooked qatayef on and one to cover them. You can transfer the batter to a bowl to scoop easily, or just keep it in the blender jug.

Once your pan is hot and your batter has rested for 20 minutes, start cooking your atayef: pour approximately a 1/8 cup measure of batter onto your pan (which is half of a 1/4 measuring cup). Depending on the size of your pan, you can make more than one at a time.

Bubbles will start forming on the surface. Do not move or disturb it while it cooks. You will see the white color of the batter slowly dry up from the outside in. Once it has completely dried, use a flat edged utensil or spatula to remove from the heat (do not flip it over - atayef only cook on one side). If the first pancake does not have small uniform bubbles and looks thick, simply add 1/4 cup of water to your batter and gently mix it through. That should fix it!

Place your cooked atayef on a tea towel and cover with the other towel while you cook the remainder of the batter to prevent them from drying out. Arrange them side by side - do not stack them on top of each other - until they are completely cool, otherwise they will stick to each other.

Hold your atayef in one hand, bubble side up. Pinch one end closed to create a cone shape. Spoon about a spoonful of your nut filling into the centre of the circle.

Pinch together the edges of the qatayef to make a semi-circle with the filling in the middle. Then pinch over again in the opposite direction to make sure it is securely closed.

Repeat for all the qatayef. Keep the qatayef covered while you fill the rest.

If baking or air-frying: pre-heat your oven or air-fryer to 400F. Place the filled atayef on a greased baking tray, brushing them with a generous coating of vegetable oil or ghee on both sides. You can also use an oil spray.

Bake in your oven or air fry at 400F for 8-10 minutes, turning half way. Baking may require 4-5 additional minutes, depending on your oven, and you can broil for 1-2 minutes on each side at the end for extra goldenness and crunch.

If frying: heat about an inch and a half depth of oil in a pan on medium-high heat. Once your oil is hot, lower the heat to medium, and place the qatayef into the oil until roughly half of the qatayef is submerged. Continuously toss your qatayef around until golden brown - the darker, the crispier - removing them from the oil and placing them onto a kitchen-towel covered plate to drain off the excess oil.

Once your qatayef are baked or fried, while still hot, drizzle your simple syrup over your hot qatayef and arrange to serve. If you prefer them sweeter, dunk your atayef into your simple syrup and allow excess syrup to roll off before placing on your serving dish.

Garnish with crushed pistachios or walnuts or keep as is, glistening in syrup. Serve warm with additional syrup on the side.