These sweet little walnut-filled rolls are delicious. Despite appearances they're not made with angel hair pasta, but rather with a special type of pastry called kadaif. If I had an angel hair attachment for my pasta machine I would probably have had a go at running some filo pastry through it, but I wasn't going to go out and buy the attachment just for something that may or may not work.
We're so accustomed to buying stuff over the internet that I don't feel too bad putting the odd recipe on here where an unusual purchase is required. You may have luck finding kadaif at a Turkish food shop, but I went the lazy route and found mine at www.melburyandappleton.co.uk. They have an excellent website with a whole range of unusual ingredients from around the world and were quick to update my order when I stupidly input the wrong delivery address, I will definitely use them again.
If your kadaif is frozen, be sure to transfer it to the fridge a day before use to allow it time to defrost. If you have long hair like I have, teasing apart the pastry prior to use will feel very very familiar...

Kadaif Pastry
ingredients
Pastry
- 400g Kadaif Pastry (find it online or at a Turkish shop)
- 100g butter
Filling
- 240 g crushed walnuts
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 3 tbsp honey
Syrup
- 675g caster sugar
- 475ml water
- 1 tsp lemon juice
NUTRITIONAL CONTENT PER PORTION
- Calories | 176
- Fat |7.3g
Makes | 35
Prep Time | 20 minutes
Cooking Time | 1 hour 8 minutes
method
- Preheat your oven to 110˚c.
- Stir together the walnuts, cinnamon and honey.
- Gently separate out the pastry with your fingers into lengths approximately 0.5 cm thick and 8 cm wide. It is easier to achieve the correct thickness if you take a strip of circa 3 cm in width and then tease out gently.
- Put a tablespoon of filling at the end of each length and roll into a sausage, tucking in the sides as you go.
- Place your kadaif seam side down in a baking tray.
- Melt the butter and pour over the kadaif.
- Cook for fifty minutes then increase to 150˚c and cook for a further ten minutes until golden.
- To make the syrup, stir together the caster sugar and water in a large heavy-based pan. Bring to a rolling boil and continue cooking at this temperature for a further 6-8 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice.
- Leave to cool for ten minutes then pour over the cooked kadaif. Leave for at least two hours for the syrup to do it's magic.
Based on a recipe found at www.artigatimit.com