Basboosa (a.k.a. Hareeseh)

Ingredients:

2 cups semolina

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup shredded coconut

2 heaping teaspoons baking powder

1 stick of unsalted butter, melted

3/4 cup yogurt (or milk)

sliced or slivered almonds

Syrup ingredients:

1 1/2 cups water

1 1/8 cups sugar (i'm halving the original recipe so please excuse the 1/8 )

few drops of lemon juice

Instructions:

for the syrup:

-in a sauce pan, bring wanter and sugar to a boil, stirring until sugar desolves completely. Once mixture starts boiling add a few drops of lemon juice and turn off heat. Let sit at room temperature. Syrup must be at room temperature before it's added to the hot basboosa (I usually make it a few hours ahead or even the night before)

Basboosa:

-Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius (or 350 fahrenheit)

-Mix semolina, sugar, shredded coconut and baking powder together, then add melted butter and yogurt. Mix well and spread in 9x13 ungreased pan, press firmly and evenly into pan. Spread almonds as desired (don't put too many or the basboosa won't brown).

-Let sit for about 15 minutes then place in preheated oven. bake for 30 minutes or until sides are lightly browned. Broil for a minute or two until you get a nice golden color (sometimes you might not need to broil, it depends on your oven).

-Take out of oven and pour syrup evenly on top of it. The syrup will seem like a lot at first but the basboosa will soak it all up within minutes. Leave it to cool and enjoy! :)