The softest Honey Comb bread stuffed with cheese and soaked in sugar syrup, this Yemeni sweet delicacy is beyond amazing!
They have in recent years gained popularity within the South Asian community and we absolutely love it. I have made it many times in the past few years. At home, we really enjoy them for Iftar during the month of Ramadan.
Khaliat Nahal is an Arabic term that literally translates to a ‘Bee Hive’, perfectly termed since it does have the look of a honey comb. Some even refer to it as ‘Honey buns’.
Apart from cheese, chocolate chunks are also a great filling that works really well in these buns. If you prefer chocolate over cream cheese, then you must go for that instead.
And yes, you can use chocolate spread like Nutella, however it might get a little messy. To combat that, you can add little bits of the spread on a butter paper, freeze till it’s solid and then stuff it up in your buns.
After it’s baked, we drizzle all the sugar syrup on top of the buns which makes it so much richer. If you haven’t tried out these yet, what are you waiting for? Put your aprons on and get baking. You wouldn’t want to miss this!
If you liked this Honey Comb bread, you will also like my recipe for Classic Cheese Kunafa, Rafaello rolls and Turkish Ramadan Pide.
RECIPE for Honey Comb Bread or Khaliat Nahal:
Honey Comb Bread- Yemeni Khaliat Nahal
Course: Dessert, AppetizersCuisine: ArabicDifficulty: Medium45
buns25
minutes20
minutes1
hour30
minutes2
hours20
minutesIngredients
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 Tsp salt
1 cup warm milk
1/4 cup warm water (more, if needed)
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tsp yeast
1 egg
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
225gm cream cheese squares, cut into chunks (or Chocolate chunks)
Egg wash: 1 egg mixed with 1 Tbsp milk
Toppings: Sesame seeds, Black seeds
- Sugar syrup glaze
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 Tbsp honey
Pinch of saffron
Directions
- Prepare the Bread dough
- In a bowl of a stand mixture, mix together the flour and salt.
- In another cup add the lukewarm water, milk, yeast and sugar. Stir and let it sit for 10 minutes to activate the yeast.
- After it forms bubbles on the top, pour the yeast mixture into the flour and start forming the dough with a hook attachment on medium-low speed.
- After the dough comes together slightly, add the egg and the butter and let it knead on high for about 5-10 minutes. You can also do this by hand. Knead it well to ensure a soft texture.
- Let the dough sit in the bowl covered with a towel for about an hour to double in size. After it’s risen, punch it down and divide them into around 45 small pieces.
- Arrange dough into Balls with Filling and Bake
- Stuff a chunk of cream cheese or chocolate into the center of the divided dough, and roll it into a ball. You can then keep it in a large, greased baking pan. Repeat for all the pieces of dough and keep the balls in the pan with a distance of a cm or two between them.
- After filling the pan with the buns, cover it to rise for another 30minutes. Also preheat your oven at 180C.
- Give the buns a nice egg wash, top it with some black seeds and sesame and bake for 20-25 minutes until you get a golden top.
- Top with Sugar Glaze
- Add sugar and water into a saucepan on medium-high heat. Keep stirring until the sugar is dissolved and it starts to bubble up. Let it boil for about 5-10min and then remove from heat.
- Mix in the honey and saffron into the sugar syrup. Let it cool slightly before pouring it over the baked honey comb bread. You may also just use a pastry brush and glaze on top.
- Serve it fresh and enjoy!
Notes
- I generally create this in two medium sized pans, with around 15-25 buns each because I find them to be prettier and also easy to use in my oven. However you can bake them whichever size you like.
My next recipe <3 looks so good, and the pinch of saffron is such a flex lol, mashalllah.
You’re too sweet, thankyou so much. I hope you like it. Jazakallahu Khair!
Hi, once I make the little balls and put filling and allow to rise for 30 mins, can I cling wrap and freeze? Trying to make a day or two ahead of when I’ll have family
I don’t see a problem with it. If you find that to be convenient, I think that would work perfectly fine.
The ad takes up most the space on the mobile version which is a shame as I wanted to try the recipe.
Thanks for bringing this to my notice. It is an automated ad that has been annoying me since it started coming on the my page a week back. Thought I fixed it, but unfortunately not. Will try to fix it soon, I am aware that it’s blocking the entire content. I hope you get to try the recipe once it’s cleared. Apologies from my part!
Hi I make this a lot, I used to make 36 buns and it never be filling for the family. One of my favorite snack to bake for everyone to enjoy.
I am so glad to hear that! I sometimes double this recipe too, so that is definitely something you can try if you need a larger batch! 🙂
I am in love with this bread. I look forward to making it for the holiday’s
I can’t wait for you to try it. It’s the best!