What is Kol Weshkor?

Handpicked pistachios, pine kernels, and cashews inside our secret pastry dough and baked to perfection. Crispy, yet juicy, it is one of the lightest Mediterranean pastries.

Ingredients
Pistachios (or pine nuts and cashews), wheat starch, sugar, flour, butter, butter ghee, corn oil, salt.

Characteristics
Kol Weshkor is one of the lightest among all Palestinian pastries. Mildly sweet and small in size, it is great for those looking for a sweet delicacy without the calories. Its elegant shape that resembles an open rose can be skillfully used to prepare beautiful arrangements of assorted baklava.

Meaning and Pronunciation of «Kol Weshkor»
Pronounced [kowl-wesh-kor], it is Palestinian for «Taste and be Thankful». As Kol Weshkor looks like an open rose, in the Western world, is it called «Rose».

How is Kol Weshkor Made?
First the dough and the sugar syrup are prepared, then multiple layers of dough are stacked, filled with nuts, cut into the shape of roses, and baked.

Preparation of the Dough
Kol Weshkor (Roses) are made of dough that closely resembles phyllo dough, but that is substantially thinner than commonly found phyllo dough. To make the dough, flour, water, and salt are mixed together. The dough is then kneaded extensively to form very thin layers.

Preparation of Kol Weshkor
About 12 sheets of very thin sheets of dough kneaded in the form of disks are stacked on top of each other then cut along a diameter to form a half disk shaped dough. Next, filling that constitutes raw nuts is added along the long side of the half disk shaped dough. Raw pistachios or a blend of pine kernels and cashews can be used as filling. The filling is added along a width of about 2cm. Then about 3cm of the dough is flipped over the nuts, and each piece is individually cut using a molded cutter. This process is repeated, always from the long side of the half disk shaped dough.

Baking
The rose shaped Kol Weshkor pieces are placed on a backing sheet and topped with butter ghee. The pieces are baked on high temperature for about one hour after which the remaining butter ghee is drained. Hot sugar syrup is added and the sweet Roses are left to cool.

Kol Weshkor (Roses)
Serving Suggestions
As Kol Weshkor is a relatively light dessert, it is a great dessert after a heavy meal. It is usually served specifically with the Palestinian pastry Asabi (Fingers) or as part of assorted Baklava arrangements.

Popularity
It is a main constituent of the Arabic sweets family, and is thus popular in most Arabic and Middle Eastern countries. It is mostly popular in Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Jordan. Bakers from these countries have spread Kol Weshkor and other products to all Middle Eastern countries as well as the United States, Europe, and Australia.

Classification
Kol Weshkor is one of the Assorted Baklava pastries that is made with phyllo-like dough. It falls under the class of Middle Eastern sweets.