Notes:
This is a popular Egyptian desert.
Servings: 24
Preparation Time: 0.5 hours
Ingredients
3 cups semolina (or Cream of wheat)
1 cup sugar
1 cup coconut
1 cup yogurt
1 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons baking soda
blanched almonds or hazelnuts (filberts) .
2 cups sugar
1 1/3 cups water
5 drops fresh lemon juice
Cooking Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350F.
In a bowl combine all the ingredients (semolina, sugar, coconut, yogurt, baking powder, and baking soda) and stir until well mixed.
Grease 11 x 17 inch rectangle pan and put batter on it.
Decorate the surface with blanched almonds or hazelnuts (filberts).
Let it stand for 2 hours.
Bake until golden (30 minutes).
Remove from oven and pour syrup(warm) on the pan and return the pan to the oven for 5 minutes.
Allow to cool, then cut into squares.
For the Syrup
Prepare syrup by putting the sugar and water in a heavy saucepan.
Bring to a boil while constantly stirring to dissolve the sugar.
Let it boil until it becomes clear.
Add few drops of lemon and let it boil for a minutes or so.
Add the butter and and let it warm.
Comments
Virginia (not verified)
Basbousa
Sat, 2008-06-21 04:27I love basbousa... but haven't ever made it... in this recipe.. this is no butter in the ingredients list but the instructions for the syrup say the last thing is to add the butter and let it warm? Am I missing something... I would love to know how to make this... but don't want to get it wrong.
Anonymous (not verified)
basbousa
Sat, 2010-02-13 19:42The butter goes with the mixture before baking it. Who ever wrote this recipe got missed up. You don't add butter to the syrup.
Anonymous (not verified)
basbusa
Sat, 2010-03-20 17:34ive seen some people put the butter in the syrup too.
Visitor (not verified)
adding butter to syrup will
Tue, 2012-03-27 20:49adding butter to syrup will lightened the syrup so that when you pour the syrup on the cake, the cake wont be hard as the syrup is made of sugar. Using butter (1tbs) in syrup itself will help make the cake looks golden shiny and still make it soft even when it's soak with syrup....
Joan (not verified)
Add new comment | Egyptian Cuisine and Recipes
Fri, 2016-02-12 03:00I have read a few just right stuff here. Certainly worth bookmarking
for revisiting. I wonder how so much effort you place to make any such fantastic informative web site.
reem Yousef (not verified)
basbousa
Thu, 2009-05-14 23:33I've got the same question and would like to clear it out please!
no butter in the whole recipe but in the syrup it says add butter? I would love to make it the way it should be. i've made it once already from a different site and it looked like basbousa but didn't taste like it!
thank you :)
Maya (not verified)
Basbousa
Mon, 2010-04-19 05:52To the three messages about the butter in the basbousa...and we all love it!
I never added butter in the syrup... but when the basbousa get out of the oven I cut it in diamonds and add little nuts of butter on top of it, and it melts and is aborbed by the pastry when you put it back in the oven for 3 minutes... - Then only I add the warm sirup (without butter) and it is nicely going "glop-glop" in the basbousa - let it stand a few hours before eating - it is delicious in small portions with an almond on the top of each diamond.
PS _ I put orange blossom water instead of lemon juice in the syrup.
My mother-in-law would be proud of me!
Visitor (not verified)
Syrup variations: from the Land of the rising Sun
Fri, 2010-08-13 07:21Hi, I like your Eggless, Fatless recepie... interesting..
Food for the Gods from the Land of the rising Sun:
Instead of 5 drops of fresh Lemon juice try any one of the variations listed below and your guests will kiss your fingers...
- Add a 4-5 Tblsp strong Rose Water (upto 1/8 Cup Rose Water)
- Add a pinch of Saffron at the outset of making the Sugar Syrup the colour will infuse (a golden colour) and the aroma of Saffron will fill the air..
- Add Green Cardomen seeds (taken 3-4 Cardomen pods open them and empty the seeds and discard the green skin)
- Add 1 tsp Green Cardomen powder
- Add Green Cardomen seeds (taken 2 Cardomen pods open them and empty the seeds and discard the green skin)+ 1 Star Anise.. this combination adds a sweet smelling enticing aroma..
Visitor (not verified)
butter
Sun, 2011-02-06 10:17there is no mention of butter in the rcipe. what butter are you o\putting in the syrup?
Visitor (not verified)
Should I trust this recipe?
Thu, 2011-08-04 16:45This is going to be my first time making basbousa. I've look up many recipes and I'm wondering if this the best one I've seen.
Visitor (not verified)
mention of butter.
Sun, 2012-09-02 23:17For the Syrup
Prepare syrup by putting the sugar and water in a heavy saucepan.
Bring to a boil while constantly stirring to dissolve the sugar.
Let it boil until it becomes clear.
Add few drops of lemon and let it boil for a minutes or so.
Add the butter and and let it warm.
Visitor (not verified)
amazeing recipie!!
Wed, 2012-06-13 01:31i loved basbosa in Egypt, but this is by far better then any other one, i make it many times and its perfect , i just add the 1tbs of coconut oil in the syrup instead of butter and it gives it an ever better scent and flavor of coconut and im glad most the fat in this recipie comes from the nuts instead of just butter jazak Allah khir
Visitor (not verified)
This recipe
Mon, 2012-09-24 09:37I tried this recipe today, it is very good and Easy to make. The basbousa is very Tasty like in egypt.
Greeting Fron Cologne - Germany
Visitor (not verified)
Egyptian or Not?!!
Sun, 2013-04-21 19:50Is this the Egyptian way of making basbousa? Because I have my Egyptian friends comming over and I need to do it in the Egyptian Way!! :)
Khalid
As Egyptian as the pyramids
Sun, 2013-04-21 20:13Yes, as Egyptian as the pyramids ...
Visitor (not verified)
As Egyptian as the pyramids
Wed, 2014-07-23 05:53As Egyptian as the pyramids which were built by slaves from the middle east? :D Or as Egyptian as the pyramids which are sitting in the backyard of Giza, shamefully covered in trash? :'( I hope it's not THAT kind of Egyptian! How 'bout, as Egyptian as my beloved family there, who are so loving and kindly people? :) How 'bout as Egyptian as your family? :)
Visitor (not verified)
The Pyramids were built solely by Egyptians
Sat, 2015-08-22 19:05The Pyramids were built solely by Egyptians.
Visitor (not verified)
The pyramids were built by
Fri, 2016-02-05 22:03The pyramids were built by the population over 20 years between the flood, sees sewing, and harvest times. There is no record that it was built with slave. The people who nowadays claim there ancestors were the slaves who built them have now shard of archeological evidence that they were ever there, nor have they built anything in there land to remotely indicate a learned skill carry over from that claim. The Egyptians in contrast have a very wide scope and spread of archeological splendor.
Don't mix belief, which is personal, with archeology!
Visitor (not verified)
Ummm...
Sun, 2013-04-21 20:05So, yeah..is it?!!
Visitor (not verified)
About the Sugar...
Sun, 2013-04-21 20:43Hi, I'm really interested to do this recipe..
I was just wondering how many cups of sugar should we add, because it stated it twice!
"1 cup sugar...1 1/3 cups water"
I'm really looking forward for your answer, please answer me soon :)
Visitor (not verified)
changing things around.
Thu, 2013-12-12 09:00recipe was good, only change i made was to the syrup. 3/4 cup water to 1 1/2 cup sugar, to a stick of butter. needs a little fat to make it a little more rich.lemon was good but 5 drops does not cut it. needs about 1/2 a lemon. other wize great recipe. came out very soft. i didnt let stand for 2 hours still came out great.
Visitor (not verified)
Dry Batter?
Fri, 2014-07-04 14:42Is this batter supposed to be pretty dry?
Khalid
Yes
Fri, 2014-07-04 14:45It is supposed to be like a very thick paste, then it is baked, and the syrup at the end should make it moist.
Visitor (not verified)
Unhappy
Fri, 2014-07-25 00:48Sorry but I made the basbousa according to this recipe twice and it just turned out dry . Not at all the basbousa that I'm used to . Not worth wasting time and ingredients .
Khalid
Drench it in syrup
Fri, 2014-07-25 00:57Just drench it in more syrup, until it becomes soft. The best results are when it is hot right out of the oven and you drench it in hot syrup.
Visitor (not verified)
The best basboussa I tried so far.
Fri, 2014-08-15 07:23Ingredients
---------------
1- 3 cups cream of wheat.
2- 1 cup sugar
3- 1 cup yogurt
4- 1/2 cup heavy cream or milk.
5-3/4 cup butter.
6- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder.
7- if you love coconut u should add 1/4 cup on each
1 cup so total 3/4. Usually I don't add:)
8- 1/2 cup Glucose syrup it looks like a paste it is
Honey substitute or you can add honey.
For syrup
2 cup sugar, 2 cups water juice of half lemon.
Preparation
-----------------
Mix the dry ingredients together.
Baking powder with sugar and cream of wheat.
And coconut if u like.
This step is very important.
Add the butter and with ur hand make sure
All the basboussa is perfectly coated with butter.
The basboussa will look like sand.
Also melt the butter at room temparture.
Then leave the basboussa coated with butter for
30 to 60 minutes.
This will ensure that basbousa won't dry
Because u will rub the cream of wheat with butter.
Cream of wheat is like flour, it makes things gets dry.
Then later add the glucose or honey, 1 cup and half yogurt or
1 cup yogurt with half cup heavy cream. U wanna make it
More and more richer add 1 cup and half heavy cream.
Then blend all the ingredients.
The bassbousa shouldn't be so runny or so dry.
It should be perfectly coated and mixed.
Add in the upper place in the over in 375 F.
After golden brown add the syrup.
Make sure the syrup is hot when it is out of the oven.
Also make sure it is runny amount f sugar equal to amount of syrup.
Visitor (not verified)
syrup and bake time
Wed, 2015-01-21 19:14you did not mention how to make the syrup and how long the basbousa should be baked for.
Dma (not verified)
baking times and syrup
Fri, 2017-06-16 02:37The syrup can be made a variety of ways and see OP for step by step instructions or just look up simple syrup recipes and substitute or add in whatever flavor you think you will like -- personally I prefer orange-blossom or rose water flavor but it can also taste good with a vanilla flavor.
As for baking times -- it usually doesn't vary too much between 20-30 minutes but you should of course check in on it every 15 minutes and test the firmness and see if the color has become a nice golden one or not.
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