Bourekas

Bourekas arrived in Israel with Sephardic and Balkan Jewish immigrants and became the bakery snack of the nation. Puff pastry parcels stuffed with salty cheese, mashed potato, or spinach, they are sold warm on every street corner and eaten for breakfast, lunch, and everything between. A good boureka is golden, puffed, and shiny with egg wash, scattered with sesame seeds, and best eaten with your hands.

Puffed pastry parcels with molten centers

The feta and white-cheese filling turns warm and molten inside the crisp, buttery pastry, with a salty tang that begs for another bite. The pastry shatters as you break it open, and the steam that escapes smells like the corner bakery of your childhood. They are best the moment they come out of the oven, still too hot to hold but impossible to wait for. Serve them with a spoonful of hard-boiled egg and tomato salad on the side for the full Israeli experience, and make a double batch, because a tray of bourekas never survives an afternoon.

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