These are both crunchy and moist at the same time. The thinnest pastry is wrapped around finely ground nuts to form triangles that are fried and then dipped in sugar syrup. The pastry stays crisp while the nuts sop up the syrup, resulting in a wonderful contrast of crunchy and soft in each bite, which makes samsa totally irresistible. In Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria, the pastry normally used is warqa or malsuqa, also known as brik, but you can use phyllo. The size of phyllo sheets varies according to the brand. The Greek and Turkish brands are generally larger and thinner than supermarket brands.
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<br />Excerpted from the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Middle-East-Classic-Recipes/dp/1452114390?tag=food52-20">Sweet Middle East</a href> by Anissa Helou (Chronicle Books, 2015).

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