Mukaffan ("Shrouded" Filled Sweet)

Ingredients

• 1 raṭl sugar
• 1/3 raṭl almonds or pistachios
• rose water
• 1 ūqiya sesame oil
• 1/2 raṭl sugar (for syrup)
• 1 ūqiya starch
• perfumed sugar

Instructions

1. Pound a raṭl of sugar with a third of a raṭl of almonds or pistachios and knead vigorously with rose water.
2. Put an ūqiya of sesame oil in the cauldron and dissolve half a raṭl of sugar into a syrup (jullāb).
3. When the oil boils, add a third of the jullāb, stir, then add an ūqiya of starch dissolved in water and stir until it sets.
4. Turn out onto a smooth marble slab to cool, then spread into palm-sized squares.
5. Put some sugar-nut paste on each square, wrap into rounds, dust with perfumed sugar, and remove.