These mini sweet samosas are middle eastern syrup-drenched crispy fried pastries stuffed with creamy cream cheese, crunchy almonds and sweet dates! Also, caution this is ADDICTIVE!
These mini sweet samosas have become my Eid tradition along with vermicelli pudding. Trust me, no one can stop with just one or ten! Both kids and grown-up kids enjoy this treat and let me tell you, every sweet mini samosa you made will be off the plate in no time! Bonus? You can freeze a big batch and fry a few anytime cravings hit!
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I pinned this during the 2016 Ramadan from Tasbih's blog Cleobuttera. Her original recipe uses only cream cheese and she also cut the regular samosa sheet into four sheets. I have used the readymade store-bought mini samosa sheets and used cream cheese, dates and almonds in each. You can shallow or deep fry these in oil or ghee.
Iftar party must-have
When my friend invited us for Iftar, I offered to make samosas for her and her guest. I made a big batch of chicken samosas and this tray of sweet mini samosas. As I was fasting, I couldn't taste this but had all the time to click pictures before heading to her place.
At her home when we all sat to break the fast, I was nervous and kept requesting every one of her guests to try the sweet samosa but they were all into the savoury. I asked the kids to try at least one! I was saddened, but soon after maghrib prayers, the ladies started munching on my sweet samosas.
They went wow mmmm and one of them asked me the recipe. I am sure she didn't make any mental notes as I could see her immersed in relishing each bite. It is such a simple dish, all readymade items, and when you get amazing praise - Take it, because wrapping those mini samosas is a task! 😜
Let's look at what you will need to make these mini sweet samosas at home!
Ingredients
- Mini samosa sheets (Switz): If using frozen, make sure to thaw as per pack instructions. I usually take them out of the pack and keep them covered in the cloth. You should be able to peel easily without breaking and that is when it is thawed completely. You can always refreeze the remaining sheets. If you don't find mini sheets, you can use the regular size and cut them vertically into two as Tasbih did.
- Cream cheese squares: I prefer al marai cream cheese squares but recently have to use Puck and I am not a fan. Please do not use a cream cheese spread. Unwrap the cheese squares and keep them in the fridge or freezer to make them easy to cut and work with. If humid, they tend to get messy at room temperature. If you don't find cream cheese squares, use the block of cream cheese.
- Almonds: You may use whole, sliced, slivered, blanched and peeled or roasted etc.
- Dates: I have always made with date paste but in the recent batch I used chopped dates. So whatever you have in hand works!
- Oil: I have used sunflower oil to pan-fry. You may use any neutral cooking oil.
- sugar syrup: I have included the recipe for syrup flavoured with rose water or orange blossom water. You may use store-bought syrup or honey syrup.
- Edible glue: Made with flour and water to seal the wraps.
How to make it?
Lightly press the filling so that the alignment of the sides meets like shown.
Then, start wrapping the excess sheet aligning along the lines it meets and ensuring the three corners are covered neatly. Small holes are ok as we shallow fry these but avoid creating large holes. You can always unwrap and wrap again if you find the holes are large. Seal the end with the flour paste or tuck it into the overlap.
How to freeze?
Stack the wrapped mini samosas in a lined tray and freeze until hard. Remove and pack them in a freezer friendly box or bag. To use frozen mini samosas, just remove as much as you want and fry immediately. Do not thaw frozen samosas.
I have provided a general recipe for the sweet mini samosas which is more of a guide than exact measurements. The rule is not to overstuff, let it be mini bite-size and sealed in all three corners so that when you shallow fry, the cheese stays intact. I managed to click step pics while making these mini treats...😊 Please excuse the unmanicured hands!
Watch and learn how to wrap samosas on my youtube channel or watch the latest video on how I wrap samosas on instagram.
Substitutions
- Cream cheese: You can easily replace cream cheese with cottage cheese or paneer.
- Almonds: You can replace almonds with any other nut like cashew, hazelnut, walnut, etc.
- Dates: You can skip dates or use any other dried fruit like raisins.
Variations
The sky is the limit.
- Chocolate: Make it chocolate flavoured by adding a piece of your favourite bar.
- Nutella: For nutella lovers, make sure you freeze a tiny portions on a sheet and use it to stuff the mini samosas. Fry only after freezing so the nutella doesn't melt easily. The same process applies to any nut butter like peanut butter or pistachio spread etc.
📖 Recipe
Sweet Mini Samosas
Ingredients
For sugar syrup
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup water
- 1 green cardamom
- a squeeze of lemon
- ½ teaspoon rose water
- ¼ teaspoon orange blossom water optional
- 1 pinch saffron crushed
For mini samosas
- 24 mini samosa sheets Switz
- 100 grams cream cheese squares 6 cubes
- 24 almonds 1 for each samosa
- 5 to 8 dates chopped or use date paste
- Oil to fry
For edible glue
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour maida
- 1 to 2 tablespoons water
garnish
- almonds crushed
- saffron crushed
- dried rose petals
Instructions
Prepare the syrup
- First, prepare the sugar syrup by boiling the water and sugar with a dash of lime juice. Bring to a full boil on high and reduce the flame and let it simmer for 5 to 8 minutes and switch it off. Add flavour water as desired and keep it aside to cool. You can make this a day ahead and refrigerate it.
Have the samosa sheets ready to use
- Remove the samosa sheets from the pack and keep them covered all time under a clean kitchen towel. If it is frozen sheets, make sure to thaw them as per pack instructions. Exposure to air will make them dry and brittle.
Keep the filling ingredients ready to use
- Keep a few cream cheese squares cut into 4 or 6 smaller cubes. As the cheese squares tend to get messy at room temperature, unwrap the squares and keep them in the fridge. Use as and when needed while wrapping. Chop the dates or divide the date paste into small bits so they are available readily to pick and stuff. You may use any kind of almonds or any other nuts.
Prepare the edible glue
- Mix the flour and water without lumps into a paste that is not too thick or too runny.
Prepare the sweet mini samosas
- Wrap the samosas stuffed with cream cheese, almond, and date paste. Seal the end using edible glue. Keep the wrapped mini samosas covered while you work with the rest. Refrigerate the batch until needed (you may freeze too). To freeze, place the wrapped mini samosas on a tray and freeze them open until frozen. Transfer to a box and store in the freezer. Use without thawing.
Shallow or deep fry the mini samosas
- Heat oil in a thick-bottomed pan enough to fry. Add as many mini samosas as the pan can hold comfortably and fry turning sides until browned evenly. Remove and transfer to a kitchen tissue.
Dunk in syrup and serve
- While the samosa is warm, dip them in the cooled sugar syrup. Transfer them onto the serving platter and drizzle more syrup. Garnish with rose petals, saffron strands or crushed almonds.
Serve
- Serve warm or at room temperature. Refrigerate any leftovers and consume them within 3 to 5 days.
Notes
• You can avoid the date paste and almonds and just keep cream cheese as in the original recipe.
• There are endless possibilities, so go get creative and make your version!
Did you make this recipe? Let me know!