This Turkish dessert is made of three layers, it is light tasting and very delicious. You would think it is really sweet, but it is not. This is a really nice dessert to make during the holidays, it is impressive and not to hard to make.
You can use this pudding recipe or if you want you can use a rice flour based pudding. I have made it with both.
Recipe for rice flour pudding follow this link—> muhallebi
Pudding:
- 4 cups (1 liter) 3.25% milk
- 6 tbsp flour
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 pkt vanilla sugar ( such as Dr. Oetker)
Syrup:
- 2 cups water
- 1 and 1/2 cups sugar
- squeeze of lemon juice
Topping:
real whipping cream sweetened with icing/powdered sugar
Garnish options:
- coconut
- ground pistachios
- pomegranate
Bottom layer:
- 24 pieces of Melba toast (if they are thin and small)*
Layer the melba toast in a 9 x 13 inch glass pan, the ones I use are thin and small so I double layer them using 24 in all.
Prepare the syrup, combine the sugar and water and bring to a boil. Simmer and boil for about 3- 5 minutes, add the squeeze of lemon juice.
Spoon syrup over the toast, you may have a few spoons of syrup leftover.
While the toast is soaking up the syrup, you will notice the bread expanding in time.
While the toast is soaking up the syrup, start on the pudding.
In a large pot, whisk milk, flour, cornstarch, sugar, and vanilla sugar. Bring to a soft boil on low to medium heat, whisking often so that it doesn’t burn on the bottom of the pot. This takes about 25 minutes. When the pudding comes to a soft boil and you can tell it has thickened, pour pudding over the melba toast.
Should form a nice smooth layer. Allow to cool for at least 1/2 and hour before refrigerating. Allow to set in refrigerator for at least 2-3 hours until completely cool or over night for a firmer center.
Beat the whipping cream and sweetened it to your personal preference with icing sugar.
Spoon over the whipped cream and smooth it over with a offset spatula.
Garnish with coconut, pistachio’s, or pomegranates. Enjoy!
*I found the thicker Melba toast at a another grocery store, they look like mini pieces of toast, you can use those ones if you find them, you wouldn’t have to double them as they are not thin like the original Melba toast.
This sounds so interesting! I will have to try making it for one of our family get-togethers!