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Home » Desserts » Gullac Recipe

Published: Apr 9, 2021 by Zerrin & Yusuf

Gullac Recipe

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Gullac sheets, which are made of starch and water, are soaked in sweetened milk and then chilled. Layer it with walnuts and top it with nuts and pomegranate. The easiest yet yummiest Turkish dessert ever!

A slice of gullac dessert on two pastel colored plates on a light background, a bowl of pomegranate arils on the side.
Gullac served on plates

Just like Turkish pide ekmek, Gullac dessert is a special food served during the month of Ramadan. You can't see it anywhere other than this month. This is why it is special. Also, check out our easy Turkish baklava recipe and kunafa or knafeh recipe or our best Turkish desserts list if you want more dessert recipes.

If you like milk based desserts like this one, check out our Turkish rice pudding sutlac too!

Jump to:
  • What Is Gullac?
  • History
  • When To Buy
  • Ingredients
  • How To Make Gullac
  • More Turkish Desserts
  • 📖 Recipe
  • 💬 Comments

What Is Gullac?

In Turkish culture, there are some certain dishes which are made on special days or occasions. We want to share another special dish made just in Ramadan month. This is a simple, but tasty dessert called gullac (güllaç in Turkish letters). The sheets are simply made of corn starch, wheat flour and water. They are soaked in sweetened warm milk, layered with walnuts and chilled.

We don’t want to translate it into English as it might be nonsense. In Turkish gül means rose and aş means food; gullac is the abbreviation of güllü aş, which means food flavored with rose. Nobody calls it güllü aş today, gullac is easier to pronounce, so it is the modern name of this yummy dessert. So what is the relation of rose with this dessert? Actually, it’s not the rose, but rose water which has that relationship with this Turkish dessert.

Gullac in a pan topped with ground pistachio and pomegranate arils.
Gullac topped with pistachio and pomegranate arils

History

Rose water used to be the main flavor in this dessert in Ottoman culture because of its refreshing effect. Just like when making Turkish delight, today, it depends on your taste to add rose water or not. Some people use it, some don’t. Personally, we don’t love its flavor in gullac much, so we prefer not using it. But it doesn’t mean it tastes bad, it gives a quite refreshing flavor to the dessert.

In the early times of Ottoman Empire, people used to make sheets from corn starch, flour and water and they could keep these for months. As these sheets  are dry and crispy, people used to soften them with milk and sugar. Probably, it wasn’t a kind of dessert those times, but more of a main dish.  The best part of it for those people was the simple ingredients in the recipe.

And keeping the dried sheets for long might be the second reason for people to love it. Then as the empire got richer, it turned out to be a dessert special for the palace and it became sultans’ favorite. And today, It has that fame as one of the palace desserts. When you tend to buy the dessert (not the sheets) from a pastry shop, you will see that it’s not that cheap.

More Ottoman desserts: Turkish Flour Halva Recipe, Sesame Seed Candy Recipe, Tulumba Recipe Homemade.

Another Ottoman tradition about gullac is that it’s always decorated with pomegranate and I love to see these cute red beads on the white surface of this dessert. I think they complete each other and address to our eyes first. And I love to add a third wonderful ingredient for garnish. Pistachios! When you have these three at the same time, the pleasure you feel doubles.

When To Buy

You can see gullac at pastry shops and at markets just in Ramadan. Just like dates, in Turkey it is special for Ramadan. This simple and easy dessert is made from gullac sheets. You may think that they are similar to phyllo sheets, but these are totally different. Gullac sheets are so white, thin and crispy.

Today, people don’t make these sheets themselves as it requires special talents. These are sold in packages at the markets. And there are about 15 sheets in a package. As far as I know, there are two big companies producing and selling these sheets to markets, Saffetabdullah Gullaclari and Istanbul Gullac.

These sheets are completely natural, they don’t have any additives. Moreover, it is a very light dessert. These are just two of the reasons why people prefer gullac to end their iftar meal with something sweet. You know, in Ramadan, muslims don’t eat or drink anything from sunrise till sunset, so their body needs more sugar than usual because of hunger.

Gullac sheets surrounded by pistachios, pomegranate arils, walnuts, sugar and milk in separate bowls on a dark background.
Gullac ingredients

Ingredients

  • gullac sheets
  • milk
  • sugar
  • crumbled walnuts
  • ground pistachio and pomegranate arils for garnish

How To Make Gullac

Warm milk in a pot and a spoon inside it on a dark background.
Milk in a pot

First, prepare the milk. Put milk and sugar (and 1 tablespoon rosewater if you like) in a pot and heat it until the sugar melts. Stir it occasionally. It shouldn’t be too hot to touch, so let it cool a little. When it gets warm enough, we can start to make our dessert. If you use it hot, your dessert gets soggy.

A hand pouring milk over gullac sheets in a pan with a ladle.
Wetting gullac sheets with milk

Second, make the layers in a pan. Put a gullac sheet in the pan. Wet it with the warm milk. Repeat this with five sheets.

Gullac sheets wetted with milk and topped with walnuts
Gullac sheets topped with walnuts

After the fifth one, spread the crumbled walnut on it.

A hand pouring milk over gullac sheets with a ladle and walnuts underneath are seen.
Layering gullac sheets and walnuts

Then put the rest five sheets one by one and wet each of them with milk. When you finish with the tenth one, pour the rest of the milk on it. They don’t need to be very good in shape while arranging them in the pan.

Gullac dessert in a beige colored pan.
Gullac dessert in a pan

They will combine when they get wet with milk. After pouring the milk, you will see the sheets are rising, do not touch them. Cover it with stretch film and put it in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

A slice of gullac dessert topped with ground pistachio and pomegranate arils.
A slice of gullac

Third, garnish it. I always leave the garnishing part to the serving time, otherwise pomegranates and pistachio may change the color of gullac. After taking it from refrigerator, cut it in squares or rectangles, garnish and serve.

More Turkish Desserts

  • Sutlac Pudding
  • Ashure Pudding
  • Keskul Pudding with Almonds
  • Revani
  • Ice Cream Dondurma

You might also like:

  • Sekerpare Recipe
  • Homemade Turkish Delight Lokum Recipe
  • Turkish Kunefe Sweet Cheese Pastry
  • Turkish Flour Halva Recipe

As always: If you make this recipe, let us know what you think by rating it and leaving a comment below. And post a pic on Instagram too—tag @give_recipe so we can see!

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📖 Recipe

Gullac Recipe

Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews

A simple dessert with gullac sheets and sweetened milk.

  • Author: Zerrin & Yusuf
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 12 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Mixing
  • Cuisine: Turkish

Ingredients

Scale
  • 10 gullac sheets
  • 7 cups milk
  • 1 and ¾ cup sugar
  • 1 cup crumbled walnuts
  • Ground pistachio and pomegranate arils for garnish

Instructions

  1. Put milk and sugar (and 1 tablespoon rosewater if you like) in a pot and heat it until the sugar melts. Stir it occasionally. It shouldn’t be too hot to touch, so let it cool a little. When it gets warm enough, we can start to make our dessert. If you use it hot, your dessert gets soggy.
  2. Pt a gullac sheet in the pan. Wet it with the warm milk. Repeat this with five sheets. After the fifth one, spread the crumbled walnut on it. Then lay the rest five sheets one by one and wet each of them with milk. When you finish with the tenth one, pour the rest of the milk on it. They don’t need to be very good in shape while arranging them in the pan. They will combine when they get wet with milk. After pouring the milk, you will see the sheets are rising, do not touch them. Cover it with stretch film and put it in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
  3.  After taking it from refrigerator, cut it in squares or rectangles, garnish and serve.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 slice
  • Calories: 413
  • Sugar: 36.6 g
  • Sodium: 173.1 mg
  • Fat: 16.3 g
  • Carbohydrates: 50.3 g
  • Protein: 18.2 g
  • Cholesterol: 21.6 mg

Keywords: gullac

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    Recipe rating ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

  1. Nena says

    November 03, 2022 at 8:21 am

    Thisrecile is wonderful and easy to make. Looks delicious.
    Thank's Zerrin&Yusuf for ur blog!!!

    Reply
    • Zerrin & Yusuf says

      November 04, 2022 at 2:58 am

      Hi Nena,

      Thank you for your kind words! Gullac is a simple and light dessert that tastes yummy. So it is one of our favorites 🙂

      Reply
  2. Halina says

    April 10, 2021 at 5:48 am

    This recipe looks very delicious and yummy...i would like to try to make it for my children...unfortunately i cant find any gullac sheets sold here....

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Yusuf says

      April 10, 2021 at 6:03 am

      Hi Halina! Happy to hear that you love gullac! Have you tried looking at online Turkish markets? Maybe they bring it in Ramadan. We can find gullac sheets at online markets here in UK.

      Reply
  3. Emily says

    June 09, 2019 at 11:28 pm

    Love the steps and the recipe is so straightforward. Thanks!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  4. mirela says

    May 01, 2011 at 5:12 pm

    Is there any way i could make those gullac sheets at home?Do you have a recipe?Google wasn't of much help.

    Reply
    • Selma says

      August 05, 2011 at 1:48 pm

      Mirela. I wanted to know the same... But it seems that you can only buy them :/

      And that's what I did when I visited Istanbul about 2 weeks ago 🙂 I bought few packages:)

      Thanks to Author for sharing recipe!

      Reply
      • Zerrin says

        August 05, 2011 at 10:55 pm

        Mirela and Selma- Nobody in Turkey makes these sheets at home, and unfortunately we don't know how to make. We just buy them from markets. I guess you can find them from Middle East markets.

  5. Filiz says

    November 09, 2010 at 1:51 am

    Merhaba Zerrin bu yaz Turkiyeden Gullac aldim ve mutfak dolabinda beni bekliyor. Uzun suredir bekliyor diyebilirim cunku hangi tarifi kullansam diye dusunuyor ve karar veremiyorum ya bu tarif benim gullacimi mahvederse korkusundayim ve nereden yine alacagim canim gullacimi evet yeniden 1 sene daha beklemem gerekecek diye gullacim beni dolapta bekliyor ve senin istah acici gullac tarifini gorunce icim icime sigmadi ozellikle step by step instructions made me so happy. Thanks for the recipe and I love your blog title. Reminds me of this saying"Sharing is Caring"

    Reply
  6. diva@The Sugar Bar says

    September 15, 2009 at 5:10 am

    this is so pretty! i love decorating with pomegrenate seeds. this must taste real gd 🙂 thanks for visiting the SB by the way. x

    Reply
  7. dilek says

    September 14, 2009 at 11:35 am

    It is one of my favourite desserts!!! It is really light and yummy.There are very good Middle Estern stores in the USA.

    Reply
  8. Hillary says

    September 03, 2009 at 1:48 pm

    Thank you for educating us all with a Ramadan recipe! 🙂

    Reply
  9. Faith says

    September 03, 2009 at 1:47 pm

    I had never heard of gullac sheets until now...very interesting! This dish is so pretty garnished with pistachio and pomegranate!

    Reply
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Meet Zerrin and Yusuf Gunaydin: The couple behind this blog. We bring Turkish food into your kitchen! From kebabs to desserts, everything you crave is here.

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