Petit Fours

Personally, I love petit fours. You have a nice taste of sweetness, without the guilt or temptation of eating a full cake. In Egypt all the major bakeries make a large variety of petit fours. Mostly, they are just fabulous. (These pictures come from my favorite bakery - no names! - in Heliopolis - can you guess which one?).

Mother of All Sweetness

The Mother of All Sweetness

Egyptian sweets (called Halawiat - from the word Halaowa literally meaning something sweet and beautiful) are fabulous.

Doused in a sugary honey syrup, sometimes filled with cream or covered with pistachios, then these gooey yummy treats are nice following any meal or even make for a fabulous quick breakfast.

The Egyptians can eat literally platefuls of these. Myself, I tend to max out after two or three. Nevertheless, I consider halawiat to be the mother of all sweetness and so they are way up there in my list of fabulous things about Egypt.

I would add a note here, that I think WHERE you buy the halawiat makes a difference, I've found a nice shop where the sweets are very light and just melt in your mouth. So, if they don't appeal to your tastebuds at once, believe me, divine and fabulous halawiat do exist, you just haven't found the right shop yet. Keep looking.