Note: Recipe adapted from a cooking Instagram account, @mxriyum. Check out her website here: https://mxriyum.com/about/

Mouth watering aromas of Ramadan seep through the oven edges, infusing the entire house as family and friends sit around the table, waiting eagerly to break their fast. Ramadan is the holy month of beauty- getting together with your loved ones, making prayers more often, cutting off bad habits and toxicity in your life and quite visibly, the elaborate foods from all over the world that Muslims look forward to eating at sunset.

One of my favorite savory snacks to bake and eat is Kross, a traditionally Palestinian cheese pie. I learned this recipe from an Instagram account (@mxriyum) by a Palestinian girl named Mariam. She has a gorgeous variety of special recipes, especially for Ramadan; just looking at her page will bring you immense happiness. This recipe is a classic among Palestinians but quite underrated in the West. It’s a triangle shaped pastry consisting of soft and fluffy bread enclosing a cheesy filling, best served warm. 

Ingredients:

Dough

• 2 cups (+ 3 cups) flour
• 2 tbsp yeast
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 2 cups warm water
• ½ cup olive oil
• 1 ½ tsp salt

Filling

• 2 cups mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1 small onion
• 1 egg
• Fresh parsley (to your preference)
• 1 ½ tbsp black kalonji seeds 

In a large bowl, mix 2 cups of flour with the warm water, yeast and sugar. Once fully combined, cover with a cloth and let it sit for 10 minutes at room temperature.

Then, add in the remaining 3 cups of flour, olive oil and salt. Make sure the dough is fully kneaded, preferably by using an electric dough mixer for 7-10 minutes.

Place your ready dough on a floured surface and divide the dough into 15-20 balls.

For the cheese filling, combine the cheeses, onion, black kalonji seeds and ½ of a well whisked egg. Cut the fresh parsley into small pieces and add it into the mixture until there’s a nicely even amount of green. My favorite part of the process is the kalonji seeds, which I think really pull the whole pastry together. The fragrance of the kalonji is incomparable, and it most evidently gives kross its Middle Eastern flavor.

At this point, preheat the oven to 400° F.

Using a rolling pin, roll out each dough ball into a longish triangular shape. Place your cheese filling in the middle of the flattened dough ball and seal it by lifting up the edges of the dough and wrapping it into a triangle shape. Make sure each kross is fully closed with a pinch so the cheese doesn’t seep out too much in the oven.

Place the kross on a baking sheet and glaze them with the leftover ½ whisked egg from your cheese filling. Bake for 8-10 minutes until golden-brown and enjoy! Ramadan Mubarak <3