When we think of ordering desserts for celebrations or office parties (remember those?), we generally turn to chocolate chip cookies or brownies from local bakeries or grocery stores. But there are other options in the Capital Region, including small businesses with bakers creating international desserts. Think baklava and date balls, basbousa and macarons, in small gift boxes to send to friends, to say "I miss you," or large party platters for family gatherings. 

Here we profile three such local businesses.

Rubina "Ruby" Mumtaz of Latham started her home-based business selling Middle Eastern and Pakistani goodies in March 2020 "on a trial basis," spreading word about it on social media and word of mouth among her group of friends.

She and her husband have three children, the youngest in high school. Making desserts had been a hobby for the Pakistan-born woman who has been in America since 1996. She started with "coconut delight," balls of shredded coconut with sugar and nuts, and panjeeri, a "super food" from Pakistan made of wheat flour fried in sugar and ghee — a clarified butter which she also makes — with generous additions of dried fruits and chopped nuts. With both items selling well, she added baklava, both the traditional kind with almonds and walnuts and one with a contemporary twist using other nuts as filling and drizzled chocolate on top.  

"I have a separate kitchen at home for the business," she said. The ingredients were neatly organized on shelves and kitchen appliances were at the ready on the counter when we visited.

In spite of the pandemic shutdown, business picked up. Mumtaz added to her menu three more items: Kunafa, a Middle Eastern dessert using crispy shredded pastry and cheese; besan kay laddoo, golf ball-sized desserts made with chick pea flour; and gulab jamun, fried sweet balls in syrup, both Pakistani items. She changes the menu with the season, offering date balls and baklava during Ramadan, and gingerbread man shaped shortbreads at Christmas. She creates regular-sized desserts for party platters and mini-sized ones for gift boxes.

Her clientele is mixed. "Muslim clients order mostly in Ramadan and send gifts to each other," she said. Two local Islamic centers ordered more than 120 boxes of date balls to share with their congregants at the start of Ramadan in 2021. Non-Muslims order treats at Christmas. 

"I make everything fresh," she said. "All desserts are made to order. I don't make and keep anything."

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Mona Almubarak and her family arrived in Albany in 2016 after fleeing Syria in 2013, spending three years in refugee camps in Jordan.

Born and raised in Daraa, Syria, she married after high school and moved to Damascus to be with her husband, Mohamad. They have five children: Three girls and two boys, ranging in age from nine to 16.

She enjoys cooking and baking through her catering business Syrian Delights, which launched in 2018. The group uses the commercial kitchen at the Sister Maureen Joyce Center in Albany for large orders. Two Syrian women cook with her; and more help comes when needed. In 2019, the group set up a food booth at the Washington Park Farmers Market and also at LarkFest. Both were well-received with falafel and shawarma being big hits. Business slowed with the pandemic shutdown but orders are slowly resuming with local colleges and legislators having asked Syrian Delights to cater events recently.

Almubarak also bakes from her home since she is registered as a home processor. "I learned to cook and bake from my mother and sister when I was growing up in Syria," she said. "When I arrived here, Ilham Almahamid, director of New York for Syrian Refugees, and Janice Coles, a volunteer through the same organization and volunteer business manager for Syrian Delights, have been very helpful in helping me settle in Albany and in helping launch the business," said Almubarak.

The most ordered item is baklava, she said. Almubarak buys the phyllo dough, semolina, ghee and other ingredients for foods and desserts at halal shops in Albany. 

Her dream is to eventually open a restaurant. 

Layla Khafaga of Niskayuna, after working in banking for 10 years and General Electric corporate in Schenectady for five, decided to venture into the dessert business. "I wanted to have my own company and put a modern twist on traditional desserts," she said. 

"Meezan" is an Arabic word meaning "balance." She had been baking cakes, but realized she "wanted to create a brand and do everything in moderation (hence 'Meezan'). My mom is an amazing baker. We had a restaurant in Chicago for a few years and I helped there. It was a shawarma and baklava place. Her sweets were loved." Khafaga's parents are from Palestine; She is first-generation American and has two children of her own: a boy, 7 and a girl, 5.

Planning, getting proper licenses and inspection took time, said Khafaga, and Meezan opened in 2021.

She and her husband have converted their home garage into a kitchen. "Our initial focus has been wholesale going into restaurants and farmers markets," said Khafaga. In a couple of years, she wants to have a food factory manufacturing Middle East pastries with a twist and shipping them nationwide.

Meezan offers "take and bake baklava," with a baking instruction video online. She has had good luck at the winter farmers market in Schenectady. She also makes basboosa, a semolina cake, and macarons, sweet meringue-sandwich confections. She makes ghee once a month, 60 pounds or more, which she also sells.

Khafaga offers dessert tables, party favors, gift boxes and corporate gifts. She supplies her cake cubes with layers of cake and filling to area restaurants. 

"Eventually I would like to move to a larger location and have my own phyllo dough machine," Khafaga said. 

Correction: A detail about when Mona Almubarak married has been corrected.

Azra Haqqie joined the Times Union in 1991. She regularly reports and writes Faces of Faith and Caring Community columns and contributes to the Muslim Women blog. She is the News and Information Desk coordinator, handling community news briefs, student achievement columns and high school reunions, among other items. You can reach her at ahaqqie@timesunion.com or 518-454-5651.