In al-Warraq's tenth-century cookbook there is a recipe for small stuffed tubular pastries, called halaqeem (like gullets, i.e. tubes). Unleavened dough is made of flour and oil, and is wound around a cleaned long reed, which is then sliced into about one-inch pieces. Red, yellow, green, and blue food colors are used to color the pieces that are to be then baked in the tannour. When done, the reeds are removed and the resulting tubes are stuffed with a mixture of walnut and sugar. The tips are sealed by dipping then in melted sugar, and then are sprinkled with colored sugar. Al-Warraq says they will look like a bustan (colorful orchard, 276). The reason why they are made small is because they are used for decorations.

In the thirteenth-century Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook, there is a similar recipe, called qanawat or qananeet (tubes). Dough yellowed with saffron is made into thin flat breads that are wound around reeds and are cut small or big, as desired. They are then fried. After removing the reeds the tubes are stuffed with a mixture of nuts and sugar bound with honey (132).

In both recipes we clearly see the origin of what later was called cannoli, the famous Italian pastry.