This recipe is based on my "White-Chocolate Mahlabi with Pistachio, Cardamom, Saffron and Orange-Flower Water." I wanted to channel the soothing yet exotic flavors of a warm, thickened Sachlav (sweet milk drink) I had tasted one cool spring day in Jerusalem. Sachlav and its summer cousin, Mahlabi, milk pudding, are delicious middle-eastern treats that are so lovely and unusual, they beg to be better-known. They have an affinity with cardamom and saffron. I thought a hint of white chocolate--good quality, not overly sweet-- would complement these flavors without overpowering them, while adding creaminess. I started with my mother's recipe for ganache, referring along the way to Claudia Roden's Sutlage-Muhallabeyeh in her Book of Jewish Food, and Carine Goren's Mahlabi in her book, Sweet Secrets. The result was a delicious, tender ganache that would best suit a yellow, pistachio or almond cake or cupcakes.

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