Lebanese Knafeh (a.k.a. Knafeh Na3meh)

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1. 1Step 1: In a small saucepan, add sugar, water, and lemon juice. Mix slightly to incorporate the sugar and water but make sure the sides of the pan don’t have sugar. Wipe the sides if there is sugar.
2. 2Step 2: Place the sauce pan on the stovetop and cook on a medium heat until the sugar is melted and it starts to slightly simmer.
3. 3Step 3: Turn down the heat and let it thicken for 5 minutes.
4. 4Step 4: Remove from heat and add the rose water and orange blossom.
5. 5Step 5: In a bowl, add the kataifi dough, and start to pull it apart with your fingers.
6. 6Step 6: Then add the powdered sugar, rose water, and soften butter. Mix the ingredients and start to coat the strands of kataifi dough with the butter.
7. 7Step 7: Grab half the portion (or a third based on your food processer) and place the buttered kataifi dough in the food processer.
8. 8Step 8: On high speed, process it for a couple seconds until the dough is almost sand like or into very tiny pieces. Repeat until all your kataifi strands are processed.
9. 9Step 9: Alternatively to get the really fine dough, you have to process it in a meat grinder.
10. 10Step 10: Place the processed dough back into a bowl and set aside.
11. 11Step 11: Use 4 individual 4 inch knafeh pans or a 10 inch round pan.
12. 12Step 12: Butter each pan than sprinkle a few pine nuts.
13. 13Step 13: If using the individual pans than divide the dough in four portions. Each portion should be a little over 1/4 cup.
14. 14Step 14: Spread evenly onto the pan on top of the pine nuts and press gently with the back of a measuring cup.
15. 15Step 15: Bake in the oven for about 10-15 minutes at 400 F until you see the edges of the pan are golden. Each oven is different so keep an eye on the knafeh crust.
16. 16Step 16: Crumble the cheese straight onto the knafeh crust in the pan using your fingers. Crumbling will help the cheese melt faster.
17. 17Step 17: Lower the oven heat to 350 F and place the pan on the middle rack and allow the cheese to melt for 5-10 minutes (keep an eye on it, based on pan size). The cheese should only melt and not brown.
18. 18Step 18: Remove from the oven and immediately flip onto a plate or a bigger platter.
19. 19Step 19: Immediately drizzle with about half a cup of the syrup, reserve some of the for individual serving so everyone can add their preferred amount of syrup.
20. 20Step 20: If you are serving knafeh at a gathering than make the knafeh as directed, Flip it onto another pan, then reheat at 300 F for about 10 minutes to re-melt the cheese. Or you can reheat individual pieces in the microwave.