Kadayif Tatlisi (Shredded Pastry Dessert with Walnuts)
Crisp golden threads of kadayif pastry layered with walnuts and soaked in lemon-scented syrup — the bakery classic you can easily bake at home in the UK.
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Ingredients
400 g fresh kadayif pastry threads, loosened and roughly chopped
200 g unsalted butter, melted
150 g walnut kernels, roughly chopped
1 tsp ground cinnamon (optional, for the walnut filling)
500 g granulated sugar (about 2 1/2 cups), for the syrup
450 ml water, for the syrup
Juice of half a lemon
2 tbsp crushed pistachio kernels, to garnish
Clotted cream (kaymak), to serve
Instructions
- 1
Make the syrup first: simmer the sugar and water for 10 minutes, add the lemon juice, simmer 2 minutes more, then set aside to cool completely.
- 2
Loosen the kadayif threads in a large bowl, pulling apart any clumps, and chop them roughly into finger-length pieces.
- 3
Pour the melted butter over the pastry and work it through with your hands until every strand glistens.
- 4
Press half of the buttered kadayif firmly into a buttered 25 cm round or square baking tin.
- 5
Scatter the chopped walnuts (tossed with cinnamon, if using) evenly over the base, then cover with the remaining kadayif and press down firmly with your palms.
- 6
Bake at 180C fan (200C conventional) for 35-40 minutes until the top is deep golden and crisp.
- 7
Pour the cooled syrup evenly over the hot pastry straight from the oven — it will bubble and hiss — then leave to rest for at least 2 hours before cutting.
- 8
Cut into squares or diamonds, top with crushed pistachios and serve with a generous spoonful of kaymak.
Kadayif tatlisi is baklava's crunchier cousin: fine shredded pastry threads (tel kadayif) buttered generously, packed with walnuts and baked until deep gold, then drenched in cooled sugar syrup. In Turkey it is the dessert of Friday family lunches and bayram tables, and the sound of a knife cracking through that crisp top layer is half the pleasure.
The two golden rules are the same as for baklava. First, be brave with the butter — every strand needs coating or the pastry bakes pale and chewy instead of crisp. Second, mind the temperature contrast: hot pastry, room-temperature syrup. Pour warm syrup over warm kadayif and you get a soggy tray; get it right and the threads stay crunchy for days.
Fresh kadayif pastry can be hard to track down in UK supermarkets, but Turkish Online Market delivers it chilled to your door along with proper Turkish butter and walnut kernels. Serve each square with a spoonful of kaymak (clotted cream) and a small glass of black tea, and nobody will believe you didn't buy it from a patisserie in Gaziantep.
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