Halawet El Jibn (Sweet Cheese Rolls)

Halawet el jibn (sweet cheese rolls), one of the Middle/Eastern Arabic sweets which everyone in my family craves for it especially during Ramadan,,and no wonder! As it is so luscious you’ll get addicted! ! It is a traditional Syrian dessert and very famous in Levant region. Usually we get it from Arabic sweets shops, here in UAE they have various Arabic sweets such as; Konafa, Qatayef, Halwet el jibn,… and much more! And they taste just amazing!

Without them ,we do feel that there is some dish missing on our Iftar menu! :)

This time I thought why not to try making this delicious cheese rolls at home?! Since always homemade is much more better! isn't is? :)) and what if the recipe was a homemade Halawet el jibn! Oh it seems that I have a big crush on this tasty cheesy rolls! Ha!? :)))

Now for the ones of you who are wondering what is this dessert, I would suggest to lean back and enjoy reading the tasty coming up words!

“Halawet el Jibn” literally means ‘ sweetness of cheese’ it is a dessert based on cheese. A dough is made of cheese, typically unsalted Akkawi (I add Mozzarella cheese also) , sugar, water and fine semolina. The cheese dough is rolled out into fine sheets and filled with Arabic Ashta(clotted cream).

then rolled like a cigar or cinnamon rolls, and cut into small pieces, drizzled with a fragrant simple syrup , chopped pistachio and garnished with rose petal jam. The cheesy dough is little bet chewy and soft, adding the filling will give it a creamy rich taste of heaven! These rolls dissolve in the mouth with a sweet, creamy and delicate smoothness.

In a saucepan heat together sugar and water till sugar dissolves. Bring it to a boil. Add Unsalted Akkawi cheese and stir, then add in shredded Mozzarella and keep stirring, cheese will start to melt fast. Keep mixing it with water.

add in semolina flour gradually and stir heavily, it will quickly start to come together.

Stir it for about 30 seconds till it starts forming a soft lump and no more sticking to the pan. Add rose water, mix and turn of the heat.

Transfer dough into a non-stick paper sheet and let cool, drizzle a roller pin with sugar syrup to avoid dough sticking to it, and do roll the dough as thin as possible in a rectangular shape . Drizzle sugar syrup over the dough too to smoothen it out , Cut the uneven edges of the dough into a straight line.

Add Ashta using a spoon or with piping bag on the long side leaving an inch border, roll up the dough like a log until Ashta filling is covered .

Now rap the rolled dough with the paper sheet and transfer into the fridge in order to cool completely.

Waiting for the dough to cool up before cutting it into bite-size pieces will give you a sharp clean cut.

Sprinkle some ground pistachios, garnish with beautiful rose petal jam to let is look more attractive :) and pour some syrup.

and let the show begins!!!!

Recipe :

Halawet Al Jibn (sweet cheese rolls)

Ingredients :

3/4 cup fine semolina

3/4 cup hot water

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon rose water

400 gm Cheese (200gm Unsalted Akkawi cheese+200gm grated Mozzarella cheese).**

For the filling :

400gm Arabic style thick clotted cream(Ashta) or you can use either Ricotta or Mascarpone cheese).

some ground Pistachios

Rose petal jam for garnish.

sugar syrup

For the syrup:

2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup water

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp orange blossom water

1/2 tsp rose water

Directions :

To make the sugar syrup :

- In a saucepan, combine together the sugar, water and lemon juice. Heat over medium heat till sugar dissolved. Bring it to a boil and reduce the heat to low and simmer for 3 minutes.

- Stir in orange blossom and rose water. keep aside to cool.

To make the Halawet el Jibn :

- In a saucepan heat together the sugar and water till sugar dissolves. Bring it to a boil.

-Add in the unsalted Akkawi cheese and keep stirring with a whisker, add grated Mozzarella It will start to melt fast. Keep mixing. Once it is quite smooth add in the fine semolina, it will quickly start to come together.

Stir it for about 30 seconds till it starts forming a soft dough and separates from the pan.

-Add rose water and mix once, then turn off the heat.

-Transfer the dough to non-stick paper sheets. drizzle a rolling pin with little syrup to avoid dough sticking to it while rolling.

-Roll it out quite thin rectangular shape, drizzle sugar syrup over the dough to smoothen it out.

-Cut the uneven edges of the dough into a straight line.

-Add Ashta using a spoon or with a piping bag on the long side leaving an inch border, roll up the dough like a log until Ashta filling is covered .

-Now rap the rolled dough with the paper sheet and transfer to the fridge in order to cool completely.

-Waiting for the dough to cool up before cutting it into bite-size pieces will give you a sharp clean cut.

-finally, Sprinkle some ground pistachios, garnish pieces with the beautiful rose petal jam to pop of the color even more! Pour some syrup, and serve :)

Bon appétit, :)

**Note:

Akkawi cheese usually tastes salty so it has to be soaked over night changing water 2-3 times in order to make it completely unsalted. And If it was hard to find where you live, then you can sure use only Mozzarella , it will work beautifully.

*For Arabic Version recipe plz click here

*Recipe inspired by the beautiful Cleobuttera