Ataif / Atayif Bil Ishta -- Arab Pancakes Filled With Cream.

Um Safia's Note:

Ataif / Atayif are famous throughout the Arab world & are eaten most often during Ramadan. They are a little fiddly & time consuming to make but are certainly worth it! This recipe is an old one but very similar to the version Arabic Bites blog : http://arabicbites.blogspot.com/2007/06/ataif-bil-ashta.html - take a look at the step by step pictures :)

• Total Time: 3 hrs 5 mins
• Prep Time: 3 hrs
• Cook Time: 5 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 25 ataif a ...

For the dough

• 2 ¼ cups plain flour
• 6 g fast action dried yeast
• 1 ½ teaspoons sugar
• 1 ½ cups semi skim milk
• 1 ½ cups water

For the filling (ishta)

• 2 cups semi skim milk
• 7 ½ tablespoons cornflour
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons double cream , stiffly whipped
• 2 tablespoons rose water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 cup chopped pistachios

Directions:

1. To make the filling:.
2. Mix corn flour gradually with milk and sugar then bring it to boil in a medium sized, heavy bottomed pan.
3. Stir continually until the mixture thickens, add the remaining ingredients & remove from heat. Spoon mixture into a bowl & refrigerate until cold.
4. To make the dough:.
5. Mix all the ingredients and allow to sit for 30-40 minutes.
6. Ladle approximately 2 tablespoons of the mixture at a time onto a lightly greased, hot frying pan / skillet & cook until full of bubbles - only cook ONE side.
7. After cooking all of the pancakes, let them cool a little.
8. To assemble, gently fold in half & pinch the bottom half edge together - so that you have an opening to place the cream but the rest is sealed.
9. Using a piping bag, fill each pancake with the cooled cream (ishta), before dipping the open ends in the chopped pistachios.

Reviews

[ToastedNut]

Now, I usually buy my atayif rounds from a local middle eastern market, but never again. I also put a tsp of walnut, brown sugar, and cinnamon on each round , closing them completely and deep frying then until golden. Then I dump them into cold simple syrup. Remove and allow to cool. And the ishta is very good, some times I leave out the sugar and serve it with basbousa or baklava . These are really great recipes and I thank you for the post, shokran jazeelan.

[UmmBinat]

I used Katayif- the Easy Way for the batter. I had some trouble with consistency of the ishta but I think it was due to using tapioca starch in place of corn starch (we are corn free) which I am finding doesn't always work well. Maybe I will try the ishta again sometime using corn starch to gift.