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Kunafa Cups (served with ice cream)

5 from 1 vote
A delicious and decadent dessert, which looks complicated but is actually easy to make.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Servings: 9
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

For the sugar syrup:
  • 100 gm (½ cup) sugar
  • 150 ml (¾ cup) water
  • 2 pinches of saffron (preferably powdered)
  • 2 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 Tbsp rosewater
For the kunafa cups:
  • 200 gm kadayif dough (defrosted)
  • 100 gm unsalted butter (melted)
  • 250 gm fresh mozarella
  • 200 gm kaymak (thick cream)
  • 1 tsp ground cardamom
For garnish:
  • 3 Tbsp chopped pistachios
  • some rosebuds or rose petals (optional)
For serving:
  • a few scoops vanilla ice cream (optional)

Method
 

  1. In a saucepan, add the sugar, water, saffron and lemon juice. Bring it to a boil, then simmer and let it cook for 10 minutes. Then switch off the heat and add the rosewater. Mix to combine and then keep aside.
  2. Break the kadayif dough apart with your hands and transfer it into a food processor. Shred into small pieces. Take it out into a bowl and add the melted butter. Rub to coat the strands evenly with the butter. Make sure to be thorough so the butter is evenly coated. Keep it aside until needed.
  3. Take the mozarella out of the packet and discard the excess water. Wrap it for a few minutes into a kitchen towel to get it of any extra moisture. Dice it into small cubes and tranfer to a bowl. Add the kaymak and ground cardamom. Mix to combine and then keep aside.
  4. Set the oven to preheat at 180℃ (350℉).
  5. Take a standard muffin tray (3x4). Fill about two tablespoon of the prepared kadayif dough into 9 of the moulds. Press it onto the sides and the bottom of the moulds to form a cup shape. Then fill about two tablespoons of the filling into each cup. Level it and then top it with the remaining kadayif dough to cover each cup. Press and level the top.
  6. Bake at 180℃ for about 40 minutes or until the crust looks golden.
  7. Drizzle the sugar syrup into each mould. Let to rest for 2 minutes, then take out the kunafa cups and invert it onto a serving plate. Garnish it with some more sugar syrup (if needed), some chopped pistachio and rosebuds/petals on top. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.

Notes

If you want to prepare the kunafa cups ahead of time, prepare the components and assemble into the muffin tray. Wrap it with a cling foil or cover with an aluminium foil, and store it into the fridge until you are ready to bake it. It could be store like this into the fridge for up to 24 hours. When you are ready to bake, simply take off the cover and put it into a preheated oven to bake until golden and crispy. Drizzle the sugar syrup and garnish before serving.