Luqaimat
Instructions
Tips
A crunchy luqaimat recipe may instruct you to fry the cream cheese-stuffed bites twice. Twice-fried sweet dumplings are extra crispy. When frying them for the first time, do so for only 1-2 minutes until they are lightly golden, then remove them from the oil. When refrying them, let them cook until they are deeply golden brown. Allow for them to cool between the first and second time in the oil. The first cook ensures they are cooked through, while the second gives them a crispy outer shell.
Questions about luqaimat
With the best luqaimat recipe in hand, making tasty iftar treats for Ramadan is quick and easy. To learn more about the traditional sweet dumplings, read our answers to the most frequently asked questions about them below.
Ingredients
Luqaimat:
|
Cream cheese, cooked
|
100 g |
|---|---|
|
Milk
|
240 ml |
|
Flour
|
240 g |
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Vegetable oil
|
240 ml |
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Yeast
|
1 tsp |
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Chopped walnuts
|
100 g |
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Vegetable oil
|
720 ml |
Syrup:
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Water
|
240 ml |
|---|---|
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Sugar
|
400 g |
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Lemon juice
|
1 tsp |
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Rose water
|
2 tbsp |
Garnish:
|
Walnuts
|
|
|---|---|
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Chestnuts
|
Stuffed luqaimat with cream cheese
Luqaimat is made with a leavened yeast dough that is fried in vegetable oil. This gives them the crispy outer shell and tender inside for which they are known and loved. The airy, fluffy interior of these hides a centre of creamy cheese filling with crunchy pieces of nutty, earthy walnut. The mild-tasting but slightly tangy and savoury cheese filling perfectly balances the treats' sweetness and prevents these syrup-coated doughnut balls from becoming overly sweet.
If you are in the market for more great recipes with cheesy fillings, we suggest having a look at our cheese sambousek recipe and cheese borek recipe.
Traditional Middle Eastern sweet dumplings
Luqaimat, lugaimat, lokma, awamat, Arabic doughnut balls, Middle Eastern sweet dumplings, Emirati fritters – a scrumptious snack with many different names! No matter what you call them, though, these sweet, deep-fried treats are perfect for Ramadan. Stuffed with cream cheese and walnuts, fried to golden perfection, and dunked in rosewater-flavoured simple syrup, these bites are both crunchy, crispy, and gooey.
For a dish that is also wonderfully crispy on the outside and has a smooth filling, check out our recipe for fried qatayef.
Enjoy cream cheese luqaimat as a delicious dessert or snack
Ramadan luqaimat doughnuts with cream cheese make for lovely dessert bites or snacks. Prepare the dough in advance so it has time to proof as you and your family eat together. As the others relax after the meal, pop back into the kitchen to make and fry the doughnut balls. This way you can serve them hot and fresh and enjoy them when they are at their crispiest and fluffiest.
Add your own touch
After covering the bites in simple syrup, you can coat them with different tasty traditional luqaimat ingredients depending on whether you want to enhance their sweet and nutty flavours or spice them up a little.
Sprinkling them with sugared nuts or toasted sesame seeds may achieve the former, while the latter can be done by dusting them with ground spices like sweet-spicy cinnamon, zesty cardamom, or delicate, floral saffron. These spices may, of course, also be used in the batter itself. To make the luqaimat sweeter, you can even coat them in icing sugar.
You might also like to try pairing other nuts like pistachios, almonds, and hazelnuts with our mild luqaimat with cream cheese. The green pistachios will look especially pretty when sprinkled on top of the syrup-covered doughnut balls.
