Kunafa Explained: Nabulsi Cheese, Cream and Ramadan Favourites

Kunafa is shredded pastry baked with cheese or cream and soaked in syrup. A guide to Nabulsi kunafa, kunafa with cream, and how Egypt eats it.

Kunafa is a dessert of fine shredded pastry baked with butter around a filling of cheese, cream or nuts, then soaked in sugar syrup. Nabulsi kunafa, from the Palestinian city of Nablus, uses a soft white cheese that stretches when warm. In Egypt, kunafa with cream (ashta) and kunafa with nuts are especially popular during Ramadan.

A long history

Kunafa appears in medieval Arabic cookery writing, and Egyptian tradition often links it to the Fatimid period, though the exact origin is debated between Egypt and the Levant. Either way, it has been part of Egyptian festive food for centuries.

Nabulsi kunafa

Nabulsi kunafa is baked in a round tray with a layer of desalted white cheese, then turned out and covered in syrup, often tinted orange and topped with crushed pistachio. It is served hot so the cheese pulls in strings. A version with fine semolina dough, called na'meh, gives a smoother crust.

Kunafa with cream

The Egyptian home favourite fills the pastry with ashta, a thick set cream, or with a milk pudding thickened with starch. It can be eaten warm or chilled. Mango and other modern fillings have joined the classics in recent years.

Crisp threads on the outside, something soft and generous inside.

The Délices take

Our kunafa cheesecake brings kunafa together with a Greek-style cheesecake, an Athens-meets-Alexandria idea. For traditional trays for Ramadan or a family gathering, ask us what we're making.

Ask Délices

Call us to order kunafa cheesecake or to ask what's on the counter today: +20 3 486 1432. We're at 46 Saad Zaghloul Street, Raml Station, open daily 8 AM – 1 AM.