Cheese Crescents - Jibneh wa joz hashweh

We've been exploring the book "The Arab Table" by May S. Bsisu, and the cover features several desserts.

The baklawah came out terrific from this month's Oscar party (baklava is featured in Munich, so it was appropriate to bring), and as long as we had the rose and orange blossom water, MrsF wanted to reproduce these gorgeous cheese and walnut filled crescents. I'm betting the title above says "Cheese and Walnut" -- I don't know which word is which.



The pastries are essentially a yeast pancake, made partly with semolina, and cooked only on one side. Sealed within them is a mixture of akawi cheese, found at a grocer on Milwaukee in Niles (I've forgotten the name, but I picked up some haloumi too), sugar and rose and orange blossom water. Fry them up, then dunk them in a simple syrup with more blossom stuff.

The akawi cheese is mild and crumbly, a little firmer than a queso fresco. The book says you can substitute ricotta or mozzarella, and its flavor and texture are somewhere between the two.

Fragrant, sweet and creamy, they're terrific. A little cardamom or cinnamon would probably be good in them; th recipe calls for nigella seeds, optionally. The other filling is walnuts, sugar, and the blossoms again, but we only made enough pancakes for one batch of filling.

It's a great book, this is probably the fourth or fifth recipe we've made from it, and enjoyed every one.
"Arab Table" on Froogle