Shaabiyat is phyllo dough layered with butter, filled with a soft semolina cream, wrapped in a bundle like “samosas” and baked till golden brown. It’s served warm with a light drizzle of orange blossom infused syrup, and sprinkled with ground pistachios. If you like your warm food and desserts, then this one is definitely for you. You will love sinking your teeth into the crisp and flaky dough only to find out that there is a warm stuffing waiting for you. I recommend that you eat these with your hands, and put the fork aside! Go ahead and indulge!
Skill level: Intermediate Shaabiyat slideshow:
In a 5 quart saucepan, add the heavy whipping cream, half and half, semolina and sugar.
Using a whisk and on medium high heat, mix the ingredients together.
Continue to mix until the mixture begins to bubble and thicken. The mixture will be thick like the consistency of yogurt.
Empty the cream into a heat proof bowl, and immediately cover the top with saran wrap. Refrigerate.
In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Do not over heat.
Take a sheet of the phyllo dough (landscape orientation) and with a pastry brush spread some of the areas with butter.
Fold the phyllo dough one third of the way up.
Spread some butter over the part that you just folded over.
Fold the top part of the phyllo dough over the side that you just butter. Leaving you with a long strip with 3 sheets of phyllo.
Brush the top part again with butter.
Add a tablespoon of the cold cream on one end of the dough.
Fold over one short corner over to the long end of the strip. Forming a triangle.
Continue with the folding the same way until you reach the other side. Tuck any remaining pieces under. It will look like a samosa.
Brush the top with butter and place on a tray.
You can cover and freeze them at this point. When you are ready to serve defrost them and bake.
Preheat the oven to 350. Arrange the shaabiyat ( as many as you need) on a cookie sheet.
Bake till golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Serve warm with syrup and ground pistachios.
For the syrup: Add 2 cups of sugar to a 4 quart saucepan.
Add one cup water to the sugar.
Bring the mixture to a boil on medium high heat, then reduce heat to low.
Squeeze the juice of half a lemon into the syrup.
Simmer for about 5 minutes then turn heat off.
Add 1 tablespoon orange blossom water to the syrup.
When the syrup is cool, pour into a syrup dispenser.
Shaabiyat served warm with syrup and ground pistachios.
Orange Blossom Water.
Rose Water.
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