Makbouseh
August 11th, 2010
Makbouseh is one of the sweets prepared for Nisf Sha’ban.
Makbouseh is a specialty of Hama (you can’t find it in other cities), and available only during Nisf Sha’ban, it has another name which is “Mehshiyeh”. The dough is prepared from flour, sugar and ghee, and the filling is prepared from semolina, sugar, water, orange blossom water and food coloring, it is formed as two layers of dough and the filling between them, and cut into diamonds then baked in the oven. Either purchased or prepared at home.
Let’s make Makbouseh:
Dough
1. In a large bowl, add powdered sugar.
2. Add ghee to powdered sugar.
3, 4. Mix powdered sugar and ghee with your hand until combined and the color of the mixture becomes pale off-white as in picture 4.
5. Add the flour.
6, 7. Mix until combined, you should have a soft dough that doesn’t stick to your hand.
8. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let the dough rest in refrigerator for 24 hours.
Filling
9. After 24 hours, prepare the filling, in a pot add water and bring it to boil.
10. Once water is boiling vigorously, add semolina and sugar and whisk.
11, 12. Keep whisking until the mixture combined, and boil the mixture for few minutes until slightly thickened, then turn off heat.
13. The thickness of the filling should be as you see in picture 13.
14. To the filling, add orange blossom water and food coloring, and set the filling aside to cool completely.
15. When the filling cooled completely, take the dough from the refrigerator and keep at room temperature for 10 minutes, then gently knead the dough.
16. 18. Divide the dough into two equal parts, spread the first half of the dough into baking dish, and smooth the surface of the dough.
17. Add the filling over the dough.
18, 19. Add the other half of the dough over the filling, and smooth the surface of the dough.
20. Cut into diamonds.
21. Bake in preheated oven at 302 °F (150 °C) for 20 minutes or until the bottom becomes very light golden in color (the color of the bottom should be almost similar to the top). Remove form the oven and keep in the baking dish until cooled completely.
22. When cooled completely, remove from the baking dish and store them in airtight container in the refrigerator, should be consumed in one week.
Makbouseh
From: Family Recipe / Servings: 16 - 17 Diamonds
PDF Text Only / Print With Images
| Dough
62 g powdered sugar 125 g ghee 250 g all purpose flour Filling 140 g water 140 g medium semolina 140 g caster sugar 2 tsp orange blossom water 1/8 tsp rose pink food coloring
|
Dough
In a large bowl, add powdered sugar. Add ghee to powdered sugar. Mix powdered sugar and ghee with your hand until combined and the color of the mixture becomes pale off-white as in picture 4. Add the flour. Mix until combined, you should have a soft dough that doesn’t stick to your hand. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let the dough rest in refrigerator for 24 hours. Filling After 24 hours, prepare the filling, in a pot add water and bring it to boil. Once water is boiling vigorously, add semolina and sugar and whisk. Keep whisking until the mixture combined, and boil the mixture for few minutes until slightly thickened, then turn off heat. The filling should look like this as you see in the picture. To the filling, add orange blossom water and food coloring, and set the filling aside to cool completely. When the filling cooled completely, take the dough from the refrigerator and keep at room temperature for 10 minutes, then gently knead the dough. Divide the dough into two equal parts, spread the first half of the dough into baking dish, and smooth the surface of the dough. Add the filling over the dough. Add the other half of the dough over the filling, and smooth the surface of the dough. Cut into diamonds. Bake in preheated oven at 302 °F (150 °C) for 20 minutes or until the bottom becomes very light golden in color (the color of the bottom should be almost similar to the top). Remove form the oven and keep in the baking dish until cooled completely. When cooled completely, remove from the baking dish and store them in airtight container in the refrigerator, should be consumed in one week. |
Notes and Tips
You should work in a cool place.
It is really important to use good quality ghee, I used a mixture of two brands, and here is the photo of the brands Ghee Brands.
Medium semolina is known in Arabic as (smeed wasat).
I used Pyrex baking dish, its dimension 8.5 x 5 x 2.5 inch (21.6 x 12.7 x 5.1 cm), and I baked makbouseh in an electric oven.
Be careful when baking makbouseh because it might get burned easily.
I never heard about thhis sweet : il’s look delicious!
Thank you for sharing recipes from Syrian cuisine, we appreciate it