Lebanese Nights Dessert (2024)

By: Mariam Ezzeddine|May 11, 2019This post may contain affiliate links, read my disclosure policy for details

If you are looking for a delicious and easy Lebanese dessert to make for Ramadan or any other time, look no further. This Lebanese Nights Dessert (Layali Lubnan, ليالي لبنان) is a very famous Lebanese dessert widely served all over Lebanon. It is one of the most served dessert at home because of it’s ease.

Lebanese recipes can sound intimidating, but they are very easy to make. This dessert is one of my most complimented dessert when I host people over. It comes together very quickly and can me made up to two days in advance.

If you try and enjoy this recipe, you may also want to try my Pistachio Bird Nest Baklava, and Atayef recipe

What is Lebanese Nights Dessert? (aka. Layali Lubnan, ليالي لبنان)?

Lebanse Nights Desserts is made from a silky semolina based pudding, topped with Ashta (thick cream), whipping cream and pistachios. The word Layali Lubnan, means Lebanese night in Arabic. This dessert is known for it’s fragrant smell of rose and orange blossoms water.Those are a key ingredients to making the sugar syrup that’s served with this dessert.

Ingredients Needed

• Semolina- be sure to get the coarse semolina
• Milk- use whole fat milk.
• Sugar- granulated sugar is used to sweeten up the base.
• Orange blossom and Rose water- used to flavor up Middle Eastern Desserts.
• Heavy Cream-to make the whipping cream.
• Confectioner sugar- used to stabilize the heavy cream.
• Table Cream (Ashta)- Puck or Nestle, Nestle brand can be found at Walmart. Puck at Middle Eastern stores.
• Dry Rose Petals-garnishing purposes only. Not required.
• Pistachios-ground unsalted pistachios.
• Vanilla-I use vanilla sugar enveloped but you can use a few drops of pure vanilla extract.

How to make Lebanese Night Dessert?

This dessert is one of the easiest desserts you can make. It’s the most made dessert at home for families because most of the ingredients are already in every Lebanese family’s pantry. And because it’s so easy to make, most families prefer to make this dessert for many occasions.

The Semolina Pudding Base:

The base is made from coarse semolina flour, which is also known as Durmun wheat. There is fine semolina and coarse semolina, so please be careful when you buy it. You will need coarse semolina for this recipe. It is found is most oriental stores and on Amazon. I have also seen it in the bulk food area at Sprouts. But I prefer the ZIYAD brand.

• Start by placing all the base ingredients in a pot. That is the milk, semolina flour, sugar, and orange blossoms water. Place the pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally until it starts boiling. Once it starts boiling, bring the fire down to low-medium heat and continue stirring until the texture is very thick like a pudding. Shown below.

• Once that is done, transfer the pudding mixture onto a Pyrex bowl. Do no use something too small or else you will have a very thick base. It should be 1 inch thick at the most. I use a 9 x13 inch bowl. Place a plastic food wrap on top of it to prevent the top from drying up. Let it sit on the counter for 20 minutes and then place it in the fridge to cool for another 45 minutes. The semolina base should be completely cold before you place the whipping cream on top.

Prepare the Whipping Cream:

You will need to buy liquid heavy cream to whip up at home. Please don’t use those envelope whipping creams because it’s not going to taste as good. Whip the cream and gradually add the confectioner /powdered sugar as the cream starts to thicken up. It’s important to have a pretty thick whipping cream because you don’t want a loose cream for this recipe. Chilling the heavy whipping cream before hand helps you achieve a firmer whip texture.

Another thing I add before placing the whipping cream is a layer of fresh table cream. Fresh cream or also known as Ashta, is a thicker cream sold in the oriental stores. The brand is Puck or Nestle, and you can find the nestle fresh table cream at Walmart. I always get it from there in the oriental food section. Many people don’t add this cream but I think it’s a game changer! I love it!

• After removing the clear film, spread the fresh cream all over to cover the base. Then spread the whipping cream as shown in the photo to easily manage spreading it because with the thick cream on the bottom, spreading the creamy becomes slippery. This way works best.

Pistachio Topping:

Processing the pistachios to top the pudding is a must for me. Highly recommended. Also some people wait and add the topping later when it’s ready to be served. I like topping it right away and letting everything sit in the fridge over night before serving because it give it such a wonderful flavor. When the pistachios softer and soggy, they tastes so flavorful. If you prep this early in the morning, you can serve it later that evening. Just let it sit in the fridge for at least 6 hours after adding the whipping cream and pistachios.

• When serving, you will top with the sugar syrup. You can store this dessert for up to 2 days in the fridge. I tastes best the first two days after served. If you have a small family and don’t want left overs, use only half the quantity.

Tips to Make this Dessert

• Only use coarse semolina.
• Chill the dessert at least 6-8 hours before serving.
• Do not skip the table cream layer.
• Only use unsalted pistachios.
• Do not skip the orange and rose water for the dessert or simple syrup.

More Lebanese Desserts to Try

• Homemade Walnut Baklava
• Homemade Pistachio Baklava
• Atayef with Ashta
• Ghraybeh Cookies
• Pistachio Bird Nest Baklava

If you try this recipe and like it, please leave a star rating and comment below. Use my hashtag to share it with me on Instagram so I can see your delicious recreations! Also, follow me at Cookin’ With Mima onFACEBOOK|INSTAGRAM|PINTERESTfor all of my latest social posts and recipes.