Though especially popular during the holy time of Ramadan as a sweet way of breaking the fast, these delicious little pockets of joy would make a tantalizing dessert any time of year. Qatayef are thought to have come into existence around 1400 years ago, though they are explicitly mentioned in an Arabic cookbook around the 10 century. Whether you decide to bake or fry them, and no matter how to stuff them, they are sure to disappear before you know it!

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How beautiful and unique is this katayef presentation?! By @olyaly1

A post shared by Your Lebanon, by Tina Chamoun (@yourlebanon) on Nov 24, 2018 at 4:39am PST

For the Purist

This version of qatayef from Xawaash food blog may be the recipe on the list with the most basic approach to the sweet treat, but it’s not short on flavor or visual appeal! This variation is filled with a thick white pastry cream, dusted with ground pistachio, and soaked in rosewater simple syrup. A video included also lets you see the process step by step so you have some visual clues as to what your culinary escapades should be looking like along the way. This is especially helpful if you’re not exactly sure about part of the process, visual cues help take some of the guesswork out of baking.    

Sans Cream

If you or someone you know isn’t big on cream or cheese fillings or has an issue with a lot of dairy, this version from Cleobuttera will still check all the boxes to get your qatayef fix. The filling here is a mixture of golden raisins, pine nuts and hazelnuts and finished off by frying before the sugar syrup is applied to bring about that beautiful glaze. Another helpful video accompanies the step by step recipe to help you achieve that perfect brown color while frying. Make sure you scroll down to the bottom of the page for some fantastic tips on how to freeze some of your prized finished products so you can enjoy them even longer.

Fruit and Cheese

Good Cooks food blog shares a recipe that features a filling that uses sweet ricotta cheese and poached apricots for the filling. The ricotta creates a lovely smooth, creamy texture that plays nicely against the orange and cinnamon infused fruit. Some chopped pistachios add welcome texture to the dish. The only problem, it might be almost too pretty to eat. Almost.

Crepe Cake Style

Crepe cakes have been enjoying some popularity recently as a chic dessert. Cardamom And Tea shows you how to make a crepe cake style dessert, but using qatayef instead of crepes and incorporating the traditional flavors for a stunning looking modern twist on the familiar favorite.

The Full Monty

Can’t quite commit to just one kind of qatayef? The World In A Pocket blog gives you options! Three of them, to be exact. With each recipe yielding enough to make about 6 dumplings, you can have your very own qatayef buffet! Whether you go with the ricotta/mozzarella sweet cheese fillings, the banana filling, or the nut/coconut/raisin filling, you simply can’t go wrong!