Halawet El jibn

INGREDIENTS:

1. 1 cup semolina flour

2. 3/4 cup sugar

3. 3/4 cup water

4. 1/2 cup milk

5. 2 cups grated cold mozzarella cheese

6. 600 gms mascarpone cheese

7. Pistachios for garnish

8. Simple syrup

For the syrup

1. 2 cups granulated sugar

2. 1 cup water

3. 1/2 tsp lemon juice

4. 3/4 tsp orange blossom water

5. 1 tsp rose water

 

Preperation:

To make the sugar syrup:

1. In a saucepan, combine together the sugar, water and lemon juice. Heat over medium heat till sugar dissolved. Bring it to a boil and reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.

2. Stir in orange blossom and rose water. Set aside to cool.

To make the sweet cheese rolls:

1. In a saucepan heat together the sugar, water and milk till sugar dissolves. Bring it to a boil.

2. Add in the mozzarella cheese and keep stirring it. It will start to melt quite fast. Keep breaking it and mixing with the liquid.

3. Once it is quite smooth add in the semolina flour.

4. Once semolina is added it will quickly start to come together. Stir it for about 30 seconds till it starts forming a soft lump and separates from the pan.

5. Transfer the dough to a surface drizzled with prepared warm sugar syrup. Sugar syrup will not let the dough stick to the counter. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Take one half of the dough to work with and cover the other half of the dough.

6. Roll it out quite thin into a 9X13 inch rectangle with a rolling pin. Drizzle sugar syrup over the dough too to smoothen it out. Cut the uneven edges of the dough into a straight line.

7. Fill piping bag with mascarpone and cut about 2 cm off the edge.

8. Pipe onto the dough on the long side facing you leaving an inch border.

9. Roll the dough over the cheese until the mascarpone is covered completely. Using a sharp knife, cut it off the rest of the dough. Now you will have a thin log. Again with a sharp knife cut out 4cm pieces from this log.

10. Repeat the same process with the rest of the dough.

11. Place in a serving plate and drizzle with pistachios.

12. Pour simple syrup before serving.

NOTES

* These rolls are traditionally filled with ashta or clotted cream.

* If you can’t get mascarpone cheese, replace it with firmly whipped whipping cream. The cream should be really firm or else the rolls won’t hold it’s shape. But mascarpone tastes best.

* While making the simple syrup, do not simmer it for long time otherwise it will thicken up and won’t be pourable.

* Make sure to use the fine variety of semolina flour. If you don’t get it, just grind the semolina till you get powder form.

* Orange blossom water is not the same as orange essence.

 

Lara Kh.