Hatay Dessert · Cheese-Stuffed Pastry

Künefe

Photo: elif ayse / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

It's served hot enough to still be sizzling from the pan — eating künefe before it cools and the cheese firms back up is considered essential to getting it right.

Shredded kadayıf pastry is packed around a layer of stretchy, unsalted white cheese, pan-fried in butter until crisp on both sides, then soaked in sugar syrup and served bubbling hot with a scoop of pistachio on top. Hatay's dessert shops keep it moving in wide copper trays all day.

Why it's made this way: Hatay (Antakya), long an Arab-influenced border region with Syria, is widely credited as künefe's home, where the specific stretchy cheese needed for the dish is a regional specialty.