By Jessie Lehail,
Special to The Post

No one does decadent desserts better than South Asians. Sweets like gulab jamun, ladoo, barfi, and halwa are a cross between confectionary treat, snack, and a dessert.
These chocolate twirls are fairly easy to make, but provide opportunity to flex your skills with some kitchen techniques: making sugar syrup and working with phyllo pastry. 
My chocolate twirls are evocative of baklava’s sweet nut filling, but my interpretation is better than the original. Baklava makes appearances in many Mediterranean cuisines and is prepared by assembling layers of phyllo dough brushed with melted butter and filled with crushed nuts. 
These twirls are playful and are outside the box. Think of them as an upscale South Asian sweet. The result: light, flaky layers of phyllo dough that ooze with warm chocolate, texture, and incredible flavour. 
They can be nibbled on when they cool, served warm with a cup of steaming chai tea, or served hot with vanilla ice cream as dessert. 

Decadent Jaggery Chocolate Twirls

• ½ cup of pistachios
• ½ cup of walnuts
• ½ cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ½ cup of jagger (gur)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/8 teaspoon ground chili pepper
• ½ cup of butter melted
• 12 to 15 phyllo sheets

Syrup 

• ½ cup of white sugar
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1 to 2 cardamom pods       

Thaw the phyllo sheets as per the package instructions. In a food processor coarsely chop nuts, chocolate, cinnamon, cardamom, chili pepper, and jaggery. Pour into a mixing bowl. Set aside. Place a phyllo dough sheet on clean surface. Brush with melted butter, stack another layer of phyllo dough on top of it. Brush with melted butter again and layer one more layer of phyllo dough. There should be a total of 3 layers of phyllo sheet stacked on top of each other. Cut the sheets into 4 equal quarters. Place a tablespoon of chocolate-nut powder on the narrow edge. Fold the quartered sheet on both the long edges, about ½ inch. Then make another ½ inch fold along the narrow edge covering the filling. Carefully roll the sheet towards the other narrow edge. Brush the twirls on all sides with melted butter and place them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake at 370F for 15 to 20 minutes or until the twirls turn golden brown. While the twirls are baking, prepare the sugar syrup. Boil sugar and water for 5 minutes on high. Add cardamom and simmer for another 5 to 7 minutes or until the syrup thickens. Once the chocolate twirls are baked place them on a heat proof dish and drizzle the syrup on top of it. Let sit for few minutes until the syrup is absorbed.

Jessie Lehail is the author of Indian Influence, a food blog that takes global eats and reinterprets them with a South Asian influence. Visit her blog at www.indianinfluence.ca.