21 Amazing Arabic Sweets and Desserts To Devour
Pistachio Baklava
March 10 marked the start of Ramadan and desserts are one major category of food that cannot be missing at any holiday table or gathering.
If you have a sweet tooth, you'll love Arabic desserts because they have a little bit of everything. Whether you prefer flaky baklava, tender cakes, sweet cheese-filled pastries, or luscious bread pudding, any of these 21 tantalizing Arabic dessert recipes will make a festive addition to the table.
Related: The 50 Best Ramadan Recipes For Suhoor, Iftar and Eid al-Fitr
Traditional Arabic Sweets and Desserts
Arabic cuisine has offers so many decadent, delightfully scrumptious desserts made with ingredients like flaky phyllo dough, pistachios, dates, honey, rose water, and semolina flour. Here are just some of the traditional Arabic sweet recipes you must try:
Baklava
Kanafeh (Middle Eastern Cheese and Phyllo Dessert)
Semolina Cake
Honey cake
Asafiri (Semolina Pancakes Stuffed with Cream)
Halva (Sesame Candy)
Ma'amoul (Date Cookies)
Om Ali (Bread Pudding)
Related: 19 Bright and Festive Recipes for Diwali
The Best 21 Arabic Dessert and Sweet Recipes
Lands and Flavors
A very popular dessert throughout the Middle East, this Lebanese Semolina Pudding (Layali Lubnan) includes sweet-tart cranberries, thick coconut cream, ground pistachios and a floral-scented syrup. This vegan recipe can be whipped up quickly, then it chills in the fridge until you are ready to dig in.
Get the recipe: Lebanese Semolina Pudding
Closet Cooking
A pastry consisting of hot cheese in between layers crispy shredded phyllo dough in a sweet syrup that is common in Greece, Turkey, Israel and many other countries in the area.
Get the recipe: Kanafeh (Sweet Cheese Pastry)
196 Flavors
Maamoul are typical Lebanese shortbreads, usually stuffed with dates, but which can also be filled with pistachios, almonds or walnuts.
Get the recipe: Lebanon Maamouls
Chef in Disguise
Harissa is a semolina based dessert, some recipes add coconut while others add a cream filling but in its most basic form harissa is a semolina cake drizzled with syrup and decorated with nuts. Simple yet completely addictive!
Get the recipe: Harissa
Little Sunny Kitchen
Atayef or Qatayef are Middle Eastern pancakes filled with white cheese or nuts then soaked in a rose sugary syrup. They are only made and served during the Holy month of Ramadan.
Get the recipe: Atayek (Middle Eastern Pancakes)
The easiest and quickest way to make a shortcut, Arabic-style clotted cream, perfect for topping or filling into your favorite Middle Eastern desserts.
Get the recipe: Easy Homemade Ashta Cream
Cleobuttera
Pleated sheets of phyllo dough, soaked and flavored with a luscious combination of sweetened condensed milk and cream, topped with puffs of ground cinnamon and a sprinkle of nuts. Crisp on the outside, creamy on the inside, it's simply one of the best and easiest desserts you will ever make!
Get the recipe: Phyllo Milk Pie (Mesh Om Ali)
These orange saffron syrup cakes are inspired by the humble yet exquisite Basbousa, a moist semolina and coconut baked confection with a coarse pudding-like texture. Baked to soft and sweet perfection, these mini cakes are then drizzled with a delicious syrup that soaks right in.
Get the recipe: Orange Saffron Syrup Cakes
Muhalabieh is a creamy Middle Eastern milk pudding infused with rose water and topped with crushed pistachios.
Get the recipe: Muhalabieh (Middle Eastern Milk Pudding Dessert)
Cleobuttera
Thirty crisp layers of buttery phyllo and heaps of fragrant pistachios, combine to make an utterly delicious, light yet rich baklava that tastes like it came straight from a Turkish bakery.
Get the recipe: Pistachio Baklava
The flavor combination of pistachios, rosewater and cinnamon gives it an Arabic touch to it.
Get the recipe: Pistachio Cake with Mohallabieh Cream
Qatayef Asafiri is a delicious, fragrant and beautiful Arabian pancake stuffed with sweet cheese filling and ground pistachios. A great addition to your pancake repertoire!
Get the recipe: Sweet Cheese Qatayef Asafiri
The combination of lemon zest and semolina flour give the cakes a lovely sunny yellow colour, and the drenching of syrup provides a strong kick of lemon flavour and keeps them deliciously moist and soft.
Get the recipe: Syrupy Lemon Olive Oil Semolina Cake
Easy, homemade Halawa (Tahini Halva) made from scratch and revamped into the most elegant little truffles. Roll them in either pistachios, sesame seeds or dunk them in glorious chocolate.
Get the recipe: Halawa (Tahini Halva) Truffles
A cake that is beautifully yellowish in color from the all natural spice known as turmeric, is known in Lebanon with "Sfouf" which literally means: "rows" in Arabic.
Get the recipe: Sfouf (Semolina Turmeric Cake)
A fun take on baklava, these baklava rolls—filled with a spiced cashew mixture, make the perfect dessert for your next party! Be sure to see the easy step-by-step tutorial below the recipe.
Get the recipe: Cashew Filled Baklava Rolls
Delicately crisp phyllo rings with a creamy chocolate center, a sprinkling of sea salt and crunchy pistachios!
Get the recipe: Chocolate Baklava Bracelets (Asawer El Sit)
Arabic style milk pudding infused with a touch of rose and orange blossom waters, adorned with rose syrup topping and garnished with caramelized pistachios. Talk about eye candy!
Get the recipe: Rose Mehalabya (Milk Pudding)
Creamy ricotta cheese wrapped inside golden, crunchy strands of sticky sweet kunafa. A sprinkling of vibrantly green pistachios add the finishing touch to this handheld delicacy.
Get the recipe: Ricotta Kunafa Rolls
A lightened up and easier-to-make version of the traditional Baklava.
Get the recipe: Easy Pistachio Chocolate Baklava
Ma'amoul are a very famous kind of cookies in the Middle Eastern area, and usually are prepared in celebration of both Eid Al-Fiter and Eid Al-Adha. Ma'amoul are typically filled with different fillings and come with various shapes. They can be stuffed with date paste, ground flavored pistachios and ground walnuts that could be flavored with cinnamon.
Get the recipe: Ma'amoul (Middle Eastern Date-Filled Cookies)
