Description
Warbat Dessert or Warbat Bil Ashta is an exquisite Middle Eastern dessert made with delicate layers of phyllo pastry dough filled with ashta, a luscious velvety rich cream, baked and drenched in sugar syrup.
Warbat is a delicious recipe often served on special occasions, it is made with a few simple steps and a handful of ingredient, and served hot or at room temperature.
Ingredients
Scale
Ashta
- 1 cup of heavy cream
- 1 cup of whole milk
- 4 tablespoons of corn starch
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon orange blossom water
Phyllo Pastry
- 1 bag of phyllo dough 18 sheets (450 grams)
- ½ cup of ghee
- 1 cup sugar syrup
- ¼ cup crushed pistachios
Instructions
Making Ashta
- Add heavy cream, milk, sugar, and cornstarch in a saucepan.
- Whisk well before adding it to the heat. Corn starch needs to be completely dissolved while the liquid is cold to prevent it from clumping.
- Place the saucepan with the mixture over medium heat while continuing to whisk (about 10 minutes) once thickened, remove from heat, and stir in orange blossom water.
- Place the mixture in a glass bowl, let it cool off for 10-15 minutes then refrigerate for at least one hour before filling the phyllo pastry dough.
Cutting Phyllo Pastry
- Take phyllo dough out of the freezer the night before and keep in the fridge, and out of the fridge 1-2 hours before usage.
- Once phyllo dough is thawed, gently open the package and unroll the sheets.
- Lay phyllo dough sheets on a flat surface or a large cutting board.
- Feel free to use a ruler and measure small squares of 4” by 4”, and cut the sheets of phyllo using a very sharp knife or a pizza cutter.
Filling and Baking Warbat
- With a spoon or ice cream scooper scoop about 1 to 1.5 tablespoons of ashta cream filling and place at the center of each square.
- Once filled fold over to form a triangular shape.
- Once all folded place them on a greased baking tray.
- Brush all edges of each piece with melted ghee.
- Bake in a 400 F preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
- Once they're out of the oven immediately pour over simple syrup (ater) then garnish with crushed pistachios.
Notes
- For best results, sugar syrup is recommended to be made either the day before or a few hours before use. It needs to be completely cooled off.
- To have a crispy texture it's important to immediately pour the cooled syrup after taking warbat out of the oven. This step will prevent them from becoming soggy!
- Make sure to mix corn starch with the cold liquid ingredients to help completely dissolve it and will prevent it from clumping.
- Continue to whisk ashta ingredients while on medium heat, if you notice any clumping take the pot off the heat and continue stirring until you see a smooth texture.
- Phyllo pastry must be at room temperature, which will make it easier to work with.
- You can remove phyllo pastry from the freezer and keep it in the fridge the night before, then over-the-counter for 1-2 before using.
- Make sure that warbat are baked uncovered.