Whole Wheat Lemon Awwamaat in Lavender Mint Syrup
Why I Love This Recipe
I was looking for a recipe to enter into a contest and came across Awwamaat. They were simple with no flavor other than sugar so I added some herbs and lemon and used whole wheat in the dough for a bit of a healthier version.
Ingredients You'll Need
Awwamaat:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups warm (110'F) water
2 teaspoons yeast
5 cups oil
Lavender Mint Syrup
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons dried lavender
12 sprigs of mint
Directions
Lavender Mint Syrup:
Combine water, sugar, lavender and mint in a saucepan.
Bring to a boil. Stir, reduce heat and continue stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
Remove from heat. If you want a mild mint flavor, carefully remove the mint at this time. For a stronger mint flavor, allow mint to steep in the syrup longer. Allow mixture to steep for about 30 minutes.
Strain lavender blossoms from the syrup and allow syrup to cool
Cover and continue cooling in the fridge.
Awwamaat:
Dissolve the yeast in the warm (110'F) water and set aside.
In a large bowl, sift together the flours, sugar and salt.
Add the yeast water a bit at a time and mix well. Continue mixing until the batter is very smooth.
Cover the bowl and allow to rest until the dough has doubled in size, about 3 or 4 hours.
When dough has doubled in size, heat the oil in a heavy duty saucepan.
Beat the batter to release all the bubbles.
Working in batches, with a teaspoon to scoop up some dough, careful slide a "ball" of dough into the hot oil. It will quickly sink to the bottom, then return to the top.
Allow the dough to brown, flip with a slotted spoon and continue to brown.
Remove with a slotted spoon, allowing the excess oil to drip off and place ball in chilled syrup.
Coat the balls with the syrup and remove to a separate plate.
Serve immediately