Sfoof: A Lebanese Semolina Turmeric cake that tastes better than it sounds

Sfoof: A Lebanese Semolina Turmeric cake that tastes better than it sounds

• Thursday, April 5, 2012

Soof or Turmeric Semolina Cake

Soof is a Lebanese dessert that we used to eat when we were kids. My dad used to get it from the dessert shop and I was utterly fascinated by those yellow squares. I could not understand how these squares were so yellow, as if a painter colored them with a swift brush stroke from an Easter color palette. Getting older, I lost all my desire to eat them, I mean I was busy discovering other fancier and more complicated desert. Sfoof did not seem that intriguing anymore. After moving to the US, a strong nostalgia of everything middle eastern and homemade took over and I finally decided to make Sfoof.
Sfoof is a great recipe because you probably have all the ingredients at home, it does not require any appliances and it is ready in an hour from start to finish..Did I mention that it tastes good...In fact, it tastes even better the next day. I like to use semolina and flour in my recipe because the semolina alone make it too crumbly and the flour alone makes it too much cake-like

Sfoof 
Preheat your oven to 350 F oven (180 C or gas 6)
Dry ingredients:

2 cups of flour (all purpose),
2 cups of semolina, (سميد ناعم)
2 cups of sugar, you can add another 1/4 cup if you like it on the sweeter side
1/2 tablespoon of baking powder
1 tablespoon of turmeric (عقدة صفراء),
Mix them all together with a whisk to combine and get rid of lumps

Wet ingredients :
1 cup of milk (I used fat free but you can use anything you like),
1 cup of canola oil,
1 cup of water,

Directions:

Mix the dry and wet ingredients until combined (don't over mix so that sfoof does not turn out tough).

You need a brownies pan (I used 9*13) or Pyrex bakeware if you don't have a pan, first spray the pan with non stick canola spay (if you don't have it you can brush it with tahini) and pour the mixture in it. I like to add pine nuts on top. bake in a 350 F oven (180 C or gas 6) for 40 minutes, wait till cools down, release from pan and cut into squares or diamonds...store in a tight container to keep from drying out.
Sahtein (bon appetit in Arabic)
Give it a try and Enjoy!
Nadine