Delicious Chocolate Honey Walnut Phyllo Log

I made a Bulgarian banitsa for Thanksgiving yesterday. Today, I made some super simple phyllo dough pastries with saffron-scrambled eggs, two cheeses, and pine nuts! I will post both recipes soon. This afternoon, my project was to use the remaining 12 phyllo sheets and a half bag of walnuts because their expiration date seemed eminent... My idea was to make some sort of walnut honey phyllo triangles, but I ended up making cinnamon walnut honey phyllo logs with chocolate and marshmallows in one half and nutmeg in the other (just in case adding either ingredient made it taste terrible!) It turned out rather well and seems very tasty! Here is what it looks like all finished!

Ingredients

- 2 cups finely-chopped walnuts (*optional to chop them while watching Ancient Aliens)

- 1 cup honey

- 1/2 tsp of cinnamon (and some more sprinkling of it too)

- 1/4 tsp salt (seemed like a good idea)

- nutmeg to sprinkle

- egg wash (one egg w/ splash of milk)

- melted butter 

                      

Here's what I did...

- Added honey, walnuts, cinnamon, and salt into a small saucepan and cooked for a few minutes on medium heat until it was a nice mixture. I ended up sprinkling some more cinnamon in the pot twice...

- Made egg wash and melted butter

- Buttered cookie sheet and placed one phyllo layer upon it

- Drizzled some butter over it and added another sheet

- Drizzled egg wash over this one

- Added 12 sheets, alternating between butter and egg wash. On top of sheets 5 and 9, I added a stripe of chocolate, some marshmallows (just on one side and just because it seemed interesting. At sheet 10, I added a healthy dusting of nutmeg and a drizzle of honey.

- Finally, I spread the walnut/honey mix from left to right across the middle of the sheets

- Next, I rolled it up into a log and drizzled egg wash and then some butter over the top.

- I added a glop of walnut mix on the top and a stripe of chocolate on one side.

- BAKE at 325 for 30 minutes (* possibly taking it out a few minutes early to add marshmallows so they can toast on the top, if you like that sort of thing...) The temp and time were averages of what I found via the internetz for honey walnut triangles or walnut rolls...

- End result = DELICIOUS and now I have a treat for the whole weekend!

Awamat (Awwamaat) and Jelabies!

Sooooooo, check out these lovelies! Awamat (also Owamat, Awwameh, Awwamaat, and many other variations.) I saw these last night while walking from the Damascus Gate through a market / shop area and they reminded me of having seen them in India, Nepal, and Pakistan. They are honey-soaked sweet bread / dough balls and originally Syrian. They are SUPER TASTY and can be soaked in sugar syrup, honey, honey with cinnamon, or rose water (that sounds AMAZING!) I must try some of these tomorrow (or every day...)

I have actually had them before in India and Pakistan, but don't recall the specific version of the name. They usually came after dinner in someone's home or were all over the city at street vendors' carts. I've always had the more bread-like ones, but I see there are crispier versions and more doughy fried doughnut-like versions. There is even an Ashkenazic dumpling version. Here in Jerusalem, they are also served specifically during Ramadan when a variety of food including savory sweets are eaten after the fast is broken.
RECIPE (there are a ton of variations!) - this one is like the Indian versions I have had!
YouTube of Awamat
Let me just stop right here and say - "SOMEBODY MAKE ME SOME!"
Now, let's turn out gaze to the colorful jelabies below...

I have also had jelabies before and they were honey-filled. I enjoyed them after chapels at the Christian Hospital Mungeli when I was there in 2014 and 2015. SO GOOD!

I was surprised to find them here, but happily so! The flour batter is fermented and later poured into spirals in hot oil and fried. I've never had any but the honey-filled ones, but I know there are variations!

RECIPE

YouTube of how to make jelabies

Advice: Go forth and make BOTH of these delicious sweets and save some for me!