“Gaymak Yağlı Gatmer” is one of the delicious tastes of Cyprus. In this article, we will be presenting this tasty desert that is dearly missed and which you can enjoy with a side of hot tea.

Ingredients:

200 gr kaymak (clotted cream)

1 cup sugar

½ kg flour

Water for dough kneading

A pinch of salt

Some oil

“Gaymak Yağlı Gatmer”, one of top traditional pastries of the Cypriot cuisine, used to be prepared especially in the villages of Cyprus in the past. Like many of our traditions, ‘Gatmer’ has nowadays also fallen out of favour due to our changing lifestyles.

Therefore, in this current edition of our magazine, we have decided to present to you this dearly missed pastry. The recipe for this pastry is in fact quite straightforward and quick. The first thing that needs to be done is to make dough from strach.

To prepare the dough, all you need to do is mix the flour, oil, salt and water together and knead until the consistency is that of an earlobe.

Using Filo Pastry Sheets

If you would like to take a shortcut, it is also possible to use filo pastry sheets rather than making the dough yourself. This is a timesaving method, however, we must warn you, the end result will unfortunately not be as tasty as that of the traditional recipe.

Once the well-kneaded dough is prepared, take small lumps of the dough and roll them out. Spread kaymak liberally over each rolled-out dough and don’t forget to sprinkle some sugar on it as well. Some also add allspice, but this is optional. Next, take each corner of the rolled-out dough and fold in the centre so as to make a bundle in the shape of a square. Place the bundles on the “saç” (a thin domed round iron plate) and cook. Don’t forget to constantly turn over the bundles in the iron plate as it will become oily while cooking.

You are now ready to enjoy your “Gatmer” with a side of hot tea.