Qatayef Asafiri (Little Birds)
By Dominique KhouryPublished on February 6, 2023
Time
1½ hours, plus 30 minutes resting
Yield
Serves 8 to 10
Ingredients
Pancakes
1 cup (5 ounces/142 grams) all-purpose flour ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon (3 ounces/85 grams) semolina flour 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground mahlab 1 teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon table salt ½ teaspoon ground anise seeds 2 cups whole milk ¼ cup honey 1 tablespoon plain whole-milk yogurt 1 tablespoon rose water 1 tablespoon orange blossom water ½ teaspoon vegetable oilFilling
16 ounces (454 grams/2 cups) mascarpone ¼ cup whole milk ½ cup honey, divided2 tablespoons rose water 1 tablespoon orange blossom water ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon ground mahlab ¼ teaspoon table salt ¼ cup shelled pistachios, chopped fineBefore You Begin
Mahlab (or mahleb), a ground cherry seed kernel, can be found at Middle Eastern grocery stores or online. If it's unavailable, you can either omit it or substitute additional cinnamon. We strongly suggest using BelGioioso mascarpone, which has a texture similar to soft cream cheese. Thinner mascarpone products will require less (or no) added milk. Covering the pancakes keeps them moist, ensuring that they seal properly. To allow for practice, the recipe yields about 30 pancakes, but only 24 are needed for filling. You will need a pastry bag with a ½-inch round tip for this recipe.
Instructions
- Whisk flour, semolina, cinnamon, mahlab, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and anise seeds together in medium bowl. In second bowl, whisk milk, honey, yogurt, rose water, and orange blossom water until smooth. Add milk mixture to flour mixture and whisk until smooth. Let batter stand, covered, for 30 minutes.
- Fit pastry bag with ½-inch round tip. Stir mascarpone, milk, ¼ cup honey, rose water, orange blossom water, cinnamon, mahlab, and salt in medium bowl until combined. Transfer filling to pastry bag and refrigerate until needed. (Filling can be refrigerated for up to 12 hours.)
- Heat oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over low heat for at least 5 minutes. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Using paper towel, wipe out skillet. Increase heat to medium and let skillet heat for 1 minute. Test heat of skillet by placing 2 tablespoons of batter in center and cook for 2 minutes. If entire surface of pancake is covered with small bubbles, top is no longer raw or shiny, and bottom is golden brown, skillet is properly heated. If top is raw and shiny after 2 minutes or bottom is too dark, adjust heat accordingly and retest.
- Spoon 2 tablespoons (or use #40 portion scoop) of batter into skillet in 3 places, leaving space between each pancake. Cook until entire surface is covered with small bubbles, top is no longer raw or shiny, and bottom is golden brown, 2 minutes. Do not flip pancakes.
- Transfer pancakes, browned side up, to prepared baking sheet without overlapping. Cover with another piece of parchment to keep them moist. Repeat with remaining batter, placing cooked pancakes side by side on baking sheet and stacking between layers of parchment. You should have 26 to 30 pancakes. (Cooled pancakes can be wrapped tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 12 hours.)
- Place pistachios in small, shallow bowl. With browned side facing out, fold 1 pancake in half and pinch edges together to seal, leaving quarter of pancake open for filling. Insert pastry tip about 1 inch into opening and squeeze gently until mascarpone mixture fills cavity and starts to appear around opening, about 2 tablespoons per pancake. Dip exposed mascarpone into pistachios. Place filled pancake on serving platter. Repeat to make 24 filled pancakes. Drizzle pancakes with remaining ¼ cup honey and serve.
for the pancakes
for the filling
to fill
Time
1½ hours, plus 30 minutes restingYield
Serves 8 to 10Ingredients
Pancakes
Filling
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Pancakes
Filling
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Pancakes
Filling
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
Qatayef asafiri is one of the most iconic desserts of the Ramadan season. The handheld dazzlers are made by stuffing small semolina pancakes with a creamy filling, folding them partway to create a beak shape (“asafiri” means “little birds”), adorning the exposed filling with chopped pistachios, and drizzling attar (a thick sugar syrup) or honey on top. The dessert is highly fragrant, with orange blossom and rose water extracts and heady spices such as cinnamon, mahlab, and ground anise seed flavoring both the cakes and the filling. Importantly, the pancakes are cooked only on one side so that the top side stays tacky and moist and able to be pinched together. Instead of ashta, the creamy filling that is used in the Arab world, we chose mascarpone cheese thinned with a little milk. To efficiently stuff the pancakes, we first pinched them into a beak shape before squeezing the cheese filling inside with a pastry bag.
Want more? Read the whole storyBefore You Begin
Mahlab (or mahleb), a ground cherry seed kernel, can be found at Middle Eastern grocery stores or online. If it's unavailable, you can either omit it or substitute additional cinnamon. We strongly suggest using BelGioioso mascarpone, which has a texture similar to soft cream cheese. Thinner mascarpone products will require less (or no) added milk. Covering the pancakes keeps them moist, ensuring that they seal properly. To allow for practice, the recipe yields about 30 pancakes, but only 24 are needed for filling. You will need a pastry bag with a ½-inch round tip for this recipe.
Instructions
- Whisk flour, semolina, cinnamon, mahlab, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and anise seeds together in medium bowl. In second bowl, whisk milk, honey, yogurt, rose water, and orange blossom water until smooth. Add milk mixture to flour mixture and whisk until smooth. Let batter stand, covered, for 30 minutes.
- Fit pastry bag with ½-inch round tip. Stir mascarpone, milk, ¼ cup honey, rose water, orange blossom water, cinnamon, mahlab, and salt in medium bowl until combined. Transfer filling to pastry bag and refrigerate until needed. (Filling can be refrigerated for up to 12 hours.)
- Heat oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over low heat for at least 5 minutes. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Using paper towel, wipe out skillet. Increase heat to medium and let skillet heat for 1 minute. Test heat of skillet by placing 2 tablespoons of batter in center and cook for 2 minutes. If entire surface of pancake is covered with small bubbles, top is no longer raw or shiny, and bottom is golden brown, skillet is properly heated. If top is raw and shiny after 2 minutes or bottom is too dark, adjust heat accordingly and retest.
- Spoon 2 tablespoons (or use #40 portion scoop) of batter into skillet in 3 places, leaving space between each pancake. Cook until entire surface is covered with small bubbles, top is no longer raw or shiny, and bottom is golden brown, 2 minutes. Do not flip pancakes.
- Transfer pancakes, browned side up, to prepared baking sheet without overlapping. Cover with another piece of parchment to keep them moist. Repeat with remaining batter, placing cooked pancakes side by side on baking sheet and stacking between layers of parchment. You should have 26 to 30 pancakes. (Cooled pancakes can be wrapped tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 12 hours.)
- Place pistachios in small, shallow bowl. With browned side facing out, fold 1 pancake in half and pinch edges together to seal, leaving quarter of pancake open for filling. Insert pastry tip about 1 inch into opening and squeeze gently until mascarpone mixture fills cavity and starts to appear around opening, about 2 tablespoons per pancake. Dip exposed mascarpone into pistachios. Place filled pancake on serving platter. Repeat to make 24 filled pancakes. Drizzle pancakes with remaining ¼ cup honey and serve.
for the pancakes
for the filling
to fill
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