Ashta Creamy Filling

Name: Ashta Creamy Filling
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Yield: Makes approximately 2 cups
Cuisine: Middle Eastern

Desserts

Ashta creamy filling is simply clotted cream perfect for topping or filling homemade desserts, fruit, and pastries.

PREP TIME

10 minutes

COOK TIME

15 minutes

cool in Refrigerator

30 minutes

SERVES

Makes approximately 2 cups

About this recipe

Ashta creamy filling is simply clotted cream perfect for topping or filling homemade desserts, fruit, and pastries. Traditional Ashta requires you to patiently skim off the thin skin that forms on boiling milk, again and again. It’s such a long process and I’ve never attempted it.

This is my mum’s simplified version of it. The recipe uses white bread as a thickener. Unlike the smooth ashta recipe used in my shay’biyat creamy filled pastries, this has a texture very close to the original recipe.

Ingredients

3 slices of white sliced bread crust removed
3 tablespoons icing sugar
150 ml thickened cream
1 ¼ cup milk
1 – 2 tablespoons rosewater

Notes from Rouba

I make ashta in various ways and use it to the top and stuff desserts. The sweetened ricotta ashta is even an easier recipe and works a treat in these delicious coconut and pistachio delight sandwiches

Method

Step 1.

To make the ashta cream, remove the crust of the bread (discard) and cut it into strips. Place the bread in a medium non-stick saucepan and sprinkle over the icing sugar. Add the thickened cream. Pour over the milk and rosewater.

Step 2.

Place the non-stick saucepan over medium heat until the mixture begins to bubble around the edges (approximately 1-2 minutes). Reduce the heat to low and gently break up the bread with a spatula (do not stir). Continue to cook, occasionally breaking up the mixture with a spatula until it slightly thickens (approximately 15 minutes). The tip here is not to stir. The mixture will thicken once cooled, so you should avoid overcooking it on the stove.