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Knafeh () is a traditional Arab cuisine made with kadayif (spun pastry dough) layered with Nabulsi cheese and soaked in a sweet, sugar-based syrup called attar. Knafeh is a popular throughout the Arab world, especially in the Levant, and is often served on special occasions and holidays. The most common variant of knafeh in Jordan and Palestine, Knafeh Nabulseyeh, originated in the Palestinian city of Nablus.
The ultimate origin of the word knafeh is debated. Some sources state that it comes from the Coptic language word "", meaning a bread or cake.Aḥmad Abdel-Hamid Youssef (2025). 9781617974762, American University in Cairo Press. ISBN 9781617974762 Another view is that it comes from a Semitic root with a meaning of "side" or "wing", and from the Arabic , "to flank or enclose". Early uses are found in stories like One Thousand and One Nights.
Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq's tenth century Arabic cookbook, ( Book of Dishes), which documented many recipes from Abbasid courts, does not mention or describe knafeh. However, it does feature a chapter on Qatayef, an Arabic pancake dumpling dessert that originated in the Fatamid Empire. The 13th century anonymous cookbook, ( Book of Dishes from Maghreb and Al-Andalus), however, gives a number of recipes for knafeh, which it describes as a pancake dumpling thinner that Qatayef prepared on a flag pan. Some of the knafeh recipes in the cookbook call for layering the thin pancake with fresh cheese, baked, and topped with honey and rose syrup. See also contents and footnotes.
Ibn al-Jazari gives an account of a 13th-century Mamluk Sultanate period market inspector who rode through Damascus at night ensuring the quality of knafeh, qatayif, and other foods associated with Ramadan. Over time, new knafeh preparation methods were developed, including a technique of dripping thin batter onto a metal sheet from a perforated container, creating hair-like strings. A mid-15th century Ottoman Empire Turkish translation of Muhammad bin Hasan al-Baghdadi's added several new contemporary knafeh recipes, though it does not specify where they originated from. Today, knafeh is served throughout the Middle East, although it is "particularly associated with Nablus" and considered to be a "cultural touchstone for Palestinians".
Today, knafeh Nabulseyeh is the most common variant of knafeh in Jordan and Palestine. As a result, academics have described Nablus as the modern-day knafeh capital.
The knafeh pastry is heated in butter, margarine, palm oil, or traditional semneh, spread with soft sweet cheese, such as Nabulsi cheese, and topped with additional pastry. In khishnah knafeh the cheese is rolled in the pastry. During the final minutes of cooking, thick sweet sugar syrup, water, and a few drops of rose water or orange blossom water are poured on the pastry. The top layer of pastry is sometimes tinted red or orange, and crushed are often sprinkled as a garnish.
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