Arabic sweets

Centuries old Middle Eastern desserts remain popular today.The desserts of the Middle East, rich with sweetness and texture, often sticky with honey and syrups made from flower petals and filled with nuts tucked between sheets of flaky phyllo dough or topping cakes made with harina flour, are different from American sweets like chocolate cake and cookies, but ever so delicious.

But like American desserts such as fruit pies which were popular in medieval England, Middle Eastern sweets also harken back to an earlier time, though their names — except for baklava — such as qata’if, ghouribeh and mushabak aren’t commonly known.