Peynir helvası which means cheese halva is one of the most well-known items of Çanakkale-Tekirdağ cuisine. Çanakkale and Tekirdağ are two neighbour cities very close to Istanbul.
Peynir helvası is mostly a store bought dessert. But some people make it at their homes also. And as most of the local food, recipe of peynir helvası changes from region to region and from product to product. For example they sometimes add egg yolk to the dessert while they generally don’t in Tekirdağ. Or some add semolina and some not.
I tried almost every possible version of the dessert and decided that this is the best one for me.
Normally the producers make the cheese themselves also. But making it at home is not feasible for me. So instead first I tried queso fresco which I used to make Kemal Paşa dessert before. But I didn’t like the result. Then I tried fresh mozzarella and saw that it was what I needed for this recipe.
The store bought halvas have lots of sugar in them which I don’t like very much, so I used less sugar in my recipe and loved this version of it. I don’t think I will buy peynir helvası from stores anymore.
Enjoy the recipe…
Ingredients:
- 250 g of fresh mozarella cheese,
- 1 heaping tablespoon of flour,
- 3/4 cups of sugar,
- Powdered saffron with the tip of the teaspoon (used for giving color, not a must).
Preparation:
- Crush the cheese into a saucepan and cook over medium heat until it melts and becomes gum (release water, and cheese will be collected in the middle).
- Add saffron and mix,
- Add the flour and cook by stirring constantly until the lump is gone and the cheese is added.
- Add the sugar and cook until recipe.
Enjoy…
