Knafeh b'Jibneh
كنافة بالجبنة·(kuh-nah-feh bih-jib-neh)
Asrouniyeh: Afternoon Hospitality & Sweets
If you grew up in a Lebanese household, the smell of orange blossom water and toasted butter transports you straight back home. For years, the diaspora has tried to replicate Beirut's smooth, canonical Knafeh Na'ameh using shredded freezer-aisle phyllo. It's fine, but it misses the mark. The real secret is Farek—a magical, buttery semolina sand—paired with a clever blend of desalted Akkawi and supermarket mozzarella for a flawless cheese pull.
Before you start
Desalt the Akkawi cheese.
Akkawi is heavily brined and aggressively salty. Soak the slices in a bowl of cold water for at least four hours, changing the water hourly to draw out the salt, then pat completely dry.
Prepare the Farek crust.
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Rub the semolina, flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and 1/2 cup of melted ghee between your palms. Mix in the 1/4 cup warm water and 1 tablespoon of orange blossom water to form a shaggy dough. Spread thinly on a baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes just to dry it out—do not let it brown. Cool completely, then pulverize in a food processor into a fine sand.
Make the aromatic syrup.
Boil 2 cups of sugar, 1 cup of water, and the lemon juice in a saucepan until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon of orange blossom water and the rose water, then let cool completely. The golden rule of Levantine thermodynamics applies here: cold syrup must hit hot knafeh.
Ingredients
- granulated sugar2 cup
- water1 cup
- fresh lemon juice1 tbsp
- Orange Blossom Water1 tbsp
- Rose Water1 tbsp
- Akkawi cheese12 oz
- low-moisture Mozzarella cheese8 oz
- fine semolina1 1/2 cup
- all-purpose flour1/2 cup
- ghee1/2 cup
- water1/4 cup
- granulated sugar2 tbsp
- Orange Blossom Water1 tbsp
- ghee3 tbsp
- raw unsalted pistachios1/4 cup
Method
- 01
Preheat the oven and prep the pan.
Preheat your oven to 400°F. Generously smear the bottom and lower sides of a 10-inch aluminum round baking pan with the 3 tablespoons of softened ghee.
- 02
Press the semolina crust.
Pour the pulverized Farek sand into the pan. Using the bottom of a measuring cup, press the mixture down incredibly firmly to form a tight, even crust.
- 03
Layer the cheeses.
Crumble the dried, desalted Akkawi evenly over the crust, followed by the grated mozzarella. Crucially, leave a 1-inch border of empty crust around the edges so the melting cheese doesn't hit the metal and burn.
- 04
Bake until golden and molten.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. You're looking for the edges of the crust to pull away slightly and turn a deep, rich amber, while the cheese becomes a molten, bubbling core.
- 05
Invert the knafeh.
Run a knife around the edge. Place a large, heat-proof serving platter upside-down over the pan. Using oven mitts, firmly hold them together and swiftly flip.
- 06
Douse and serve.
Immediately pour a half cup of the cooled syrup over the screaming hot knafeh—it should sizzle. Garnish with crushed pistachios and serve immediately while the cheese is elastic, offering the remaining syrup on the side.
Notes
The Knafeh Kazzabeh weeknight hack.
If making Farek from scratch is too much for a Tuesday night, trim the crusts off 10 slices of white sandwich bread. Pulse the crumb in a food processor with 1/2 cup of melted butter until it resembles wet sand, and press that directly into your pan. It's a wildly authentic Levantine household shortcut that tastes absolutely incredible.
The supermarket cheese swap.
If you can't source Akkawi locally, substitute it with 1 cup of whole-milk ricotta blended with an extra cup of low-moisture mozzarella. It lacks the exact Levantine tang, but it replicates the creamy, stretchy texture beautifully.
From Cook Lebanese in America.