Desserts

3 recipes

Chebakia (Sesame Honey Rosettes)

A dough rich in toasted sesame seeds, almond, aniseed, cinnamon, orange-flower water, melted butter and a touch of saffron rests for 1 hour. Rolled thin (3 mm); cut into rectangles; each rectangle slits 4 times lengthways but not through. Each piece folds and twists into a rosette by threading one corner through the centre slits. Fries in moderately hot oil. Hot rosettes plunge into warmed honey + orange-flower water; soaked for 2 minutes; lifted; sprinkled with sesame.

2 hours 30 minutes Serves30

Ghriba (Moroccan Almond Shortbread)

Ground almonds, icing sugar, salt mix together. Beaten eggs, orange-flower water and a touch of melted butter bind. Dough chills for 30 minutes (the egg sets up; the dough firms enough to handle). Rolls into walnut-sized balls; each ball coats heavily in icing sugar (no half measures); places on a parchment-lined tray. Bakes at 170°C 12-15 minutes, the bake is gentle; ghriba shouldn't brown, just dry and crack on top.

1 hour 5 minutes Serves24

m'Hencha (Almond Snake Coil)

Almond paste: ground almonds, icing sugar, melted butter, cinnamon, orange-flower water, mixes to a soft pliable paste. Rolls into long ropes 1 cm thick. Warka sheets lay flat, almond ropes line one long edge, sheet rolls into a long thin cylinder. Several cylinders form (typically 4-6). Brushes with egg-yolk wash. Starting at the centre of a buttered round tin, the first cylinder coils tightly; subsequent cylinders join end-to-end with a brush of water, continuing the coil outward until the tin is filled. Top brushes with butter; bakes at 180°C 35 minutes till deep gold. Dusts with icing sugar in a crisscross pattern, with lines of cinnamon between.

1 hour 20 minutes Serves8-10