Kunafa — cheese-filled shredded pastry in syrup
Kunafa is one of the great showpieces of Levantine pastry — a layer of shredded filo (or semolina dough) baked golden over a thick stratum of melting white cheese, then drowned in cold orange-blossom syrup the moment it leaves the oven. Cut into slabs while still warm, the cheese pulls into long elastic threads. Nablus, in the West Bank, claims the canonical version.
i. Origin & history
Kunafa has been documented in Arabic cookbooks since the 10th century — it appears in al-Warraq's Kitab al-Tabikh and developed through Mamluk and Ottoman courts into the dish we know.
Kunafa nabulsiyya from Nablus is the canonical version, using fresh white sheep's cheese (akkawi or nabulsi) under a layer of finely shredded pastry. Across the Levant, Egypt, Turkey and the Gulf, every region has its own riff.
ii. Ingredients
Makes 12 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust
- 500 g kataifi pastry (or fine semolina dough)
- 200 g unsalted butter or ghee, melted
- 500 g akkawi or fresh mozzarella, soaked 4-6 hours in cold water (changed twice) to reduce salt
- 100 g ricotta or fresh white cheese
- 2 tbsp orange-flower water
- 400 g caster sugar (for syrup)
- 300 ml water (for syrup)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp orange-flower water
- ½ tsp food-grade red colour (optional, traditional)
- 3 tbsp ground pistachios to garnish
iii. Method
- Make the syrup: simmer sugar, water and lemon juice 10 minutes. Stir in orange-flower water. Cool completely.
- Drain and roughly grate or slice the soaked cheese. Mix with the ricotta and orange-flower water.
- Roughly chop the kataifi pastry into 2 cm lengths. Toss thoroughly with the melted butter. If using red colour, mix it into the butter for a traditional sunset hue.
- Press two-thirds of the buttered kataifi firmly into the base of a 28 cm round shallow pan. Spread the cheese mixture evenly over the top. Cover with the remaining kataifi, pressing firmly.
- Bake at 200 °C / 400 °F for 30-35 minutes until the bottom (which becomes the top when flipped) is deeply golden — lift the edge to check.
- Run a knife around the edge, then invert onto a serving plate so the golden side is up. Immediately pour over the cold syrup. Scatter with pistachios. Cut into slabs and eat warm, while the cheese still pulls.
iv. Tips & common mistakes
- Soak the cheese. Unsoaked akkawi is too salty and will weep liquid into the pastry.
- Cold syrup, hot pastry. Same rule as kataifi: this is what gives the crisp finish.
- Eat warm. Kunafa cools to a denser, less spectacular sweet within hours. The cheese pull is the whole moment.
v. Variations
Khishneh kunafa uses coarser shredded pastry; naʿameh uses a finer semolina-based dough that bakes to a smoother crust. Turkish künefe is similar, smaller, and pan-fried. Egyptian konafa sometimes uses cream filling (qishta) instead of cheese.
vi. Common questions
What is kunafa?
Kunafa is cheese-filled shredded pastry in syrup, from middle eastern cuisine. Cut into slabs while still warm, the cheese pulls into long elastic threads
Where is kunafa from?
Kunafa is from the middle eastern dessert tradition; the recipe and history are detailed above.
How long does kunafa keep?
See the storage note in the Quick facts panel: 2 days; best warm.