Arisheh is a Lebanese mountain cheese that’s close in taste to ricotta. It’s probably the easiest cheese recipe you’ll ever come across; it’s only made with full fat milk and lemon juice or white vinegar. It’s usually sweetened with honey or sugar and enjoyed with bread, but I personally like to add fruits to my Arisheh. So, here’s my take on this traditional treat: easy to make, beautiful to look at, colorful, and healthy!
Here we go again, another galette is here! It’s my favorite dessert to make and this one looks and tastes like Christmas. It comes out smelling like a warm hug and vibrantly glistening like Christmas lights. Fresh cranberries, kumquat, sugar, cinnamon, a touch of nutmeg, vanilla, and orange blossom, mixed together then baked in a buttery flaky dough studded with toasted hazelnuts. I love it with chocolate ice cream slowly melting on top. Happy Holidays everyone!
There’s nothing like a hot cup of chocolat chaud on a cold winter evening! Rich, intense, and absolute heaven for chocolate lovers. I like to top it with luscious whipped cream and some shaved chocolate. Perfection!
This cake recipe is light, healthy, easy, and extremely delicious! It might look like any another cake from the outside until you slice it and see all the beautiful apple layers. Basically it's a lot of apples tossed in a cinnamony batter, stacked in a cake pan, topped with walnut for some crunch, then baked until the kitchen smells amazing and the apples are soft but still retain a little bite. I like to serve each slice with a spoonful of honeyed mascarpone. Check out the recipe!
The smell of freshly baked peach galette is an irresistible summer smell. The buttery crumbly crust studded with almonds, the jammy peach filling bubbling away in the oven, the anticipation of taking that first sweet bite. Oh yes! This galette is a special treat. I like to top it while still a little warm with vanilla ice cream, watch it sexily melt, and serve to my lucky guests. Check out the recipe!
Every time I go to the bakery, I end up buying a lot of bread that will definitely go stale before I can eat it. I am aware of this problem but I just can't help it; I have a sweet spot for bread. Here I am repurposing leftover sourdough loaf to make the most delicious chocolate bread pudding! The bread is tossed in a mixture of eggs, milk, sugar, cocoa powder, chocolate chips, a bit of cinnamon, vanilla, and orange zest, then it's topped with almond, and finally baked. The pudding gets crunchy on top, soft, rich, and custardy in the middle. I like to simply top it with powdered sugar and berries while it's still warm, or let some ice cream melt on top of it just before serving. Such a treat! Here's the recipe.
This might look like a normal loaf cake but let me tell you something, it has a special something inside; Lebanese Zhourat which is made of Za’atar, chamomile, roses, rosemary, cinnamon, loumi, marjoram, wild mint, anise, zoofa, and sage. This blend is sweet, a touch bitter, spiced, tangy, earthy, wild, and beautifully complex. The inspiration for my Zhourat Cake came from the famous Earl Grey Cake, but I was actually very hesitant to try it because Zhourat is much bolder in flavor than Earl Grey. However like everything in life, I can never know unless I try. And I am happy I did, because it came out like magic! As soon as it starts rising in the oven, the kitchen will smell so sweet. It’s a joy to eat because not only it’s delicious, it also smells incredibly fragrant as you take a bite.
This recipe is dedicated to the beauty of bread and all the wonderful things that can be done with it. It's also an expression of a very simple and honest emotion: I love messy foods! Yes, I do. My favorite desserts is when I put delicious things in a bowl and playfully mess them up. So I took that emotion, refined it a little, worked on the flavors, textures, colors, came up with this delicious creation, and called it Sylvie's Sweet Mess. It's so much fun to prepare but it's even better to eat! When you serve it to your family or friends, they only see golden Markouk bread "hats" that smell of browned butter, then they take their spoons, break the "hats", and dig into that delicious mess. It has rich shiny ganache, jam soaked strawberries, light whipped cream, and crunchy pistachio. What do you think?
Tahini and Carob Molasses go together like Labneh and Zaatar! There is a small bowl of Carob Molasses and Tahini sitting on the kitchen table in almost every Lebanese house. This cake is my take on possibly the most traditional Lebanese sweet duo. When you cut it you see those beautiful light and dark swirls! It smells amazing and tastes like home.
The first time I tested this cake, I was very skeptical about using olive oil in a sweet recipe. It's actually not something that I am familiar with. Then I licked the spatula... hmmm interesting. It started smelling really good while baking, and I was very excited to taste it. I cut myself a nice piece, I had a small bite, and I fell in love! I discovered that baking with olive oil brings out its wonderful fruitiness. This is my simple olive oil lemon cake recipe. Its sweetness is balanced by the tartness of lemon, it's fluffy, moist, fruity, light, and delicious. I like to drizzle it with a lemon glaze, but you can serve it as is.
This is not a chocolate fondant. This is Carob Molasses Sfouf gone fondant! The rich oozy center is made of a strawberry and molasses reduction, while the cake is a typical Sfouf. I believe this makes it a Lebanese Valentine's dessert. I like to let an ice cream scoop melt on top of my warm fondant, and dig into it. Delicious!
You know when you crave something sweet yet you don't have a lot of time to spare, but you still want to eat something really delicious? Well these stuffed baked pears might be what you are looking for! They come together in few minutes, they are full of flavor, they are gorgeous, and they are on the light side. Juicy pears stuffed with your favorite chocolate spread, topped with a simple oat crumble, then baked until soft and smelling amazing. Oh yum!
You know when you see something and you expect it to have a certain taste? Well when you see those tarts, you expect to taste some sort of custard filling. But these beauties have honeyed melty Akkaoui cheese, flavored with cinnamon, orange zest, and a nice crunchy surprise, encased in buttery puff pastry! The strawberries sit beautifully on the cheese filling, then they are baked until the pastry is puffed up and golden. So good!
Delicious almond coconut bliss balls, light, soft, spiced, and brought together in the form of super cute Snowmen. There might be a chocolate surprise in one of the balls too! Come on, who wouldn't like this? Check the easy recipe right here.
There is nothing like my delicious Christmas cake! It celebrates amazing Lebanese flavors; Carob Molasses, marmalade, Kamar El Dine, Lebanese single malt, lots of dried fruits, and the creamiest Ashta frosting. It smells, tastes, and looks like Christmas!
Chocolate and pears are a beautiful match! This is a rich yet light chocolate cake flavored and topped with spiced poached pears. It is easy to prepare, incredibly delicious, and perfectly spiced. Perfect for your winter baking.
These are not your usual homemade Snickers, because they are beautifully flavored with Lebanese Carob molasses. Healthy, no added sugar, not too sweet, easy to prepare, and better than any store-bought chocolate you might taste. They are finished with a light molasses drizzle for extra flavor. I am craving a Lebanese Snickers right now!
My spiced chocolate chunk soft pumpkin cookies are the best rainy weekend day activity. They are super delicious, so soft, beautifully spiced, and easy to prepare. Make yourself a cup of tea, put on some music, and prepare these beauties. They are a true celebration of Fall!
These are definitely the best cupcakes I've ever prepared so far, and let me tell you why. They are light, fluffy, moist, perfectly spiced, sweetened with fresh figs, topped with a creamy honey mascarpone frosting, and finished with a pretty fig wedge and a drizzle of honey. Heaven!
When I made this recipe for the first time I wasn't planning on calling it Knefeh, since it is nothing like the traditional dish. Then I discovered that it has all the Knefeh charm; oozy interior, rich fried exterior, drizzled with honey, and just perfect. It is definitely a lighter, easier, more colorful version of your usual Knefeh. Make it and thank me later!
My to die for Labneh cheesecake bars prove once again how versatile Labneh really is. They are light, creamy, sweet, a touch tangy, they melt in your mouth, and they are better eaten with your eyes closed!