Mutabbaq — Print Recipe — The Culinary Codex

Layers of paper-thin phyllo dough filled with sweet white cheese, baked until golden and crisp, then soaked in fragrant sugar syrup. Each bite delivers a contrast of shattering pastry and molten, stretchy cheese.

Ingredients

500g phyllo dough
400g nabulsi or akkawi cheese, desalted and shredded
1/2 cup melted butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
For syrup: 2 cups sugar, 1.5 cups water, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp orange blossom water
Crushed pistachios for garnish

Instructions

1 Desalt the cheese by soaking in water for several hours, changing water twice. Shred or crumble the softened cheese.
2 Make syrup by boiling sugar and water with lemon juice for 10 minutes. Stir in orange blossom water and cool completely.
3 Mix melted butter and oil. Brush a large baking pan generously. Layer half the phyllo sheets, brushing each with the butter-oil mixture.
4 Spread the shredded cheese evenly over the phyllo layers in an even, compact layer.
5 Top with remaining phyllo sheets, brushing each layer with butter-oil. Brush the top generously and score into diamond shapes.
6 Bake at 180C for 30-35 minutes until the top is deeply golden and crisp. Pour cold syrup over hot pastry. Garnish with crushed pistachios.

Did You Know?

The best mutabbaq achieves the impossible — pastry that stays crisp for hours even after being drenched in syrup, thanks to proper butter layering.