Knafa Bjoz

What is knafeh?

Knafeh is a pastry of fine threads or semolina, layered with cheese or cream, cooked in butter or ghee and soaked in syrup. Here is what goes into it, and where it is made.

By Knafa Bjoz editorsPublished

Also known as: kunafa, kanafeh, knafeh, künefe, konafa, كنافة

Knafeh is a sweet built from a very fine pastry, cooked in butter or ghee and soaked in sugar syrup, usually with a layer of cheese or cream. It is eaten from Nablus to Cairo and from Beirut to Antakya, and every region makes it its own way.

The pastry

The classic knafeh pastry is a tangle of thin threads. Edward Lane’s 19th-century dictionary describes it as a pastry “resembling vermicelli”, made by pouring a thin paste of flour and water through a vessel with a pierced bottom onto a large, hot tray of tinned copper.[1] Today the threads are still made on a heated plate: in Antakya the batter is poured in a fine string onto a domed metal sheet that turns while it cooks, and the threads dry in seconds.[2]

Not every knafeh uses threads. A 2009 report from Nablus describes the local knafeh as made of semolina, white cheese and syrup,[3] and the Lebanese cookbook author Anissa Helou notes that some places use semolina where she uses the shredded “hair pastry”.[4]

The cheese or cream

In Palestine the filling is usually a white brined cheese, soaked in water first to draw out the salt.[5] Nabulsi and Akkawi are the best-known; Akkawi takes its name from the city of Acre.[6] In Antakya the registered recipe calls for a fresh local “künefe cheese” between two layers of threads.[2] Other versions use cream instead of cheese, a common filling in Egypt.[7]

You’ll find more about each cheese in our cheese guide.

Butter and syrup

The pastry is coated in fat before cooking. Lane describes it being baked with clarified butter;[1] the Antakya registration requires unsalted butter;[2] and in Nablus the ghee is mixed with a food colouring made for knafeh.[5] After cooking, the hot knafeh is soaked with syrup, made in Antakya from sugar and water with a little lemon juice.[2]

Where it’s eaten

  • Nablus, in Palestine, gives its name to knafeh Nabulsiyeh, one of the most famous Palestinian sweets.[5] See Knafeh in Nablus.
  • Antakya, in Turkey’s Hatay province, has a protected name for its künefe.[2] See Antakya künefe.
  • Lebanon eats knefeh for breakfast, in a sesame bun.[8] See Knefeh in ka’ak.
  • Egypt counts kunafa among the most popular sweets of Ramadan.[7] See Kunafa in Egypt.

Knafeh has not always looked like this. In medieval cookbooks it was something quite different: read The history of knafeh.

Quick quiz

  1. Which city gives knafeh Nabulsiyeh its name?
    Show answer

    Answer: Nablus. Knafeh Nabulsiyeh is named after Nablus, in Palestine. Read more

  2. Why is white brined cheese soaked in water before it goes into knafeh?
    Show answer

    Answer: To take out the salt. Brined cheeses like Nabulsi are stored in strong salt brine, so they are soaked to remove the salt. Read more

  3. Akkawi cheese takes its name from which city?
    Show answer

    Answer: Acre (Akka). Akkawi cheese originated in the city of Acre. Read more

  4. How is knefeh often eaten in Lebanon?
    Show answer

    Answer: For breakfast, in a sesame bun. In Lebanon knefeh is a breakfast dish, served in a sesame bun called kaakeh. Read more

Sources

  1. 1.Edward William Lane. An Arabic-English Lexicon, entry "kunáfah". Williams & Norgate (1863–93), online edition.
  2. 2.Antakya Künefesi, geographical indication registration no. 101. Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (TÜRKPATENT), 2008. Amended in Bulletin no. 93, 15 January 2021.
  3. 3.Mohammed Mar'i. World's largest Kunafa pastry. Arab News, 2009.
  4. 4.Anissa Helou. My favourite breakfast: ka'ket k'nafeh. anissas.com.
  5. 5.طعام وصيام.. الكنافة النابلسية. Al Jazeera Net, 2017. In Arabic. Updated 26 February 2023.
  6. 6.Kamleh, Olabi, Toufeili et al.. The effect of partial substitution of NaCl with KCl on the physicochemical, microbiological and sensory properties of Akkawi cheese. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 2015, vol. 95, no. 9, pp. 1940–1948.
  7. 7.Hend El-Behary. Konafa creations: The sumptuous sweets of Ramadan 2016. Egypt Independent, 2016.
  8. 8.Nadiya Ibrahim. Breakfast of kings. Food Heritage Foundation.