Desserts

Damascus's paper-thin sesame-pistachio crisps — sweet, snappy, dangerous by the boxful.

1 version

Molten cheese under crisp golden pastry, drowned in orange-blossom syrup — the region's most contested treasure.

3 versions

Semolina cookies stuffed with dates or nuts, pressed in wooden molds — the cookie of every holiday, for every faith.

3 versions

Ramadan's pancake: folded around cream or nuts, fried or fresh, always with syrup.

2 versions

The syrup-soaked semolina cake with an identity for every border it crosses.

2 versions

Egypt's bread pudding of victory — pastry, milk, nuts, and history baked to a bubbling crust.

1 version

Rice pudding, chilled and perfumed — the dessert every teta keeps waiting in the fridge.

2 versions

The butter cookies of every Levantine holiday tin — swirled, sandwiched, and dipped in chocolate.

1 version

The lattice-topped jam tart that traveled the Mediterranean and settled on every Levantine tea table.

1 version

The melt-away shortbread that must stay snow white.

1 version

Sweet cheese rolls hugging clotted cream — Hama's gift to dessert tables everywhere.

1 version

Crisp golden fritters swimming in syrup — 'the floaters' of every festive night.

1 version

Lebanon's golden turmeric cake — humble, fragrant, and gone by sunset.

1 version

Iraq's swirled date cookies, perfumed with cardamom — the scent of Iraqi Eid.

1 version

The Maghreb's semolina-date diamonds, fried and honeyed.

1 version

Morocco's sesame-honey rosettes, folded like flowers, inseparable from harira at iftar.

1 version

Crisp phyllo cylinders hiding cold ashta — 'the lady's arms', named with a wink.

2 versions

The spiced rice pudding cooked to welcome a newborn — dark with caraway, crowned with nuts.

1 version

'Lebanese nights' — a chilled semolina pudding under cream, syrup, and pistachio.

1 version

'Palace bread' — toasted bread drunk on caramel syrup, buried under cream.

2 versions

The milk pudding every MENA grandmother keeps in her fridge — silky, floral, and gone in a spoonful.

2 versions

Ridged choux fingers fried crisp and dunked in syrup — 'dates of Damascus' that contain no dates at all.

2 versions

Pistachio paste pressed under ashta — the emerald showpiece of Lebanese sweet trays.

1 version

Aleppo's nut-stuffed semolina fingers, dipped in cloud-white natef.

1 version

Morocco's unbaked mound of toasted flour, almonds, and sesame — the Ramadan energy food.

1 version

Fermented batter piped into lace, fried, and lacquered in syrup — the Maghreb's Ramadan glow.

2 versions

The Gulf's little bites — crackly dumplings drizzled with date syrup, vanishing by the handful.

1 version

Yemen's banana-bread mash with honey and cream — breakfast, dessert, and comfort in one bowl.

1 version