A luscious Lebanese pastry filled with ashtar or eishta, a Middle Eastern clotted milk cream... and prepared by pastrymaker Milad Abla.

Eishta is made by simmering milk and cream for around eight hours, skimming the thick layer of cream from the surface as it forms. In the Middle East it is usually made with buffalo milk.

To make Damascus Rose, rounds of filo pastry are brushed with ghee and baked. The rounds are then soaked in a syrup of sugar, glucose and rosewater. They are then cut in half, filled with a dollop of eishta, and topped with a sprinkle of chopped pistachios and a spoonful of orange blossom jam.