History
Just like with with St. Patrick‘s cottage pie or St. Joseph, Patriarch‘s cabbage rolls, today we’re sharing a recipe that is inspired by the geographical heritage of a great saint, St. Athanasius, who was born in and later served as bishop of Alexandria, Egypt.
“Om Ali” is a type of Egyptian bread pudding. The base is made of sweetened milk and homemade cookies called palmiers or lunettes, and it is all topped off with toasted nuts and sweets of your choosing such as dried or candied fruit and coconut.
The palmiers feature a beautiful design that, as the nickname lunette suggests, is broadly curved like a “little moon” and feature a couple of interior folds that take on an almost heart-shaped appearance. Better yet, these cookies are incredibly easy to make. Simply roll out a sheet of puff pastry, sprinkle over with cinnamon sugar, and fold the ends into each other twice. We suggest looking through the step-by-step tutorial on Pioneer Woman’s blog to get a sense of how this procedure works before folding.
Once the cookies are cooked, simply assemble the remaining ingredients and bake it in the oven! (reserving the whipping cream for the last few minutes of baking)
Egyptian Bread Pudding
Ingredients
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
3 tablespoons cinnamon sugar mixture (2 tablespoons sugar + 1 teaspoon cinnamon)
4 ¼ cups whole milk
⅓ cup sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream
½ cup toasted nuts, variety of your choosing
½ cup raisins
¼ cup shredded coconut (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400ºF. In order to make the palmier cookies, lay the puff pastry sheet out on a piece of parchment paper and roll it out flat, sprinkling cinnamon sugar over it evenly.
- Fold two opposite ends of the pastry sheet toward the middle, 1/4 of the way in. Fold each side in again, with the ends butted up against each other. Then fold the puff pastry over one more time, creating a rolled stack with 6 layers.
- Using a sharp knife, cut the roll into 4 equal sections. Then cut each section into 5 thin pieces.
- Move the parchment paper over to a baking sheet. Gently lay the rolled pieces flat on the parchment paper, 3 inches apart. Bake for 15–20 minutes until golden brown. If you need to toast the nuts, now is a good time to do that, too.
- Let the palmier cookies cool. When cooled, break 3/4 of the total amount of cookies into smaller pieces and place them in an oven-safe baking dish. Sprinkle in the nuts, raisins, and optional coconut.
- In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stir the milk and sugar together until the sugar is dissolved. Pour the milk over the cookie layers in the baking dish. Add the last 1/4 of the cookies to the top in order to create a crunchy topping.
- Spread the whipping cream over the top layer. Place the dish back into the oven under the broiler for 10 minutes or until the dish is gently bubbling at the edges.
- Serve the om ali hot with some extra nuts on the top and a glass of cold milk!
St. Athanasius Egyptian Bread Pudding (“Om Ali”)
Ingredients
- 1 sheet puff pastry
- 3 tbsp cinnamon sugar mixture (2 tbsp sugar + 1 tbsp cinnamon)
- 3 C whole milk
- ⅓ C sugar
- 1 C heavy whipping cream
- ½ C toasted nuts, variety of your choosing
- ½ C raisins
- ¼ C shredded coconut (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400ºF. In order to make the palmier cookies, lay the puff pastry sheet out on a piece of parchment paper and roll it out flat, sprinkling cinnamon sugar over it evenly.
- Fold two opposite ends of the pastry sheet toward the middle, 1/4 of the way in. Fold each side in again, with the ends butted up against each other. Then fold the puff pastry over one more time, creating a rolled stack with 6 layers.
- Using a sharp knife, cut the roll into 4 equal sections. Then cut each section into 5 thin pieces.
- Move the parchment paper over to a baking sheet. Gently lay the rolled pieces flat on the parchment paper, 3 inches apart. Bake for 15–20 minutes until golden brown. If you need to toast the nuts, now is a good time to do that, too.
- Let the palmier cookies cool. When cooled, break 3/4 of the total amount of cookies into smaller pieces and place them in an oven-safe baking dish. Sprinkle in the nuts, raisins, and optional coconut.
- In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stir the milk and sugar together until the sugar is dissolved. Pour the milk over the cookie layers in the baking dish. Add the last 1/4 of the cookies to the top in order to create a crunchy topping.
- Spread the whipping cream over the top layer. Place the dish back into the oven under the broiler for 10 minutes or until the dish is gently bubbling at the edges.
- Serve the om ali hot with some extra nuts on the top and a glass of cold milk!
References:
https://cleobuttera.com/middle-eastern/best-ever-om-ali-egyptian-bread-pudding/
https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a81149/2-ingredient-palmiers/
