A party isn’t a party in Morocco without these cookies. Engagement parties, weddings, and baby showers all are causes to break out these cookies. The name comes from the shape of the cookie - the hoof of the gazelle. Don’t be too upset if you don’t manage to make them correctly the first time, they’re certainly a practice makes perfect des- sert!
TOOLS
◊ Pastry brush
◊ Rib edged pastry cutter
◊ Pasta rolling machine (you can use a rolling pin but it’s difficult to get pastry thin enough)
◊ Baking sheet
INGREDIENTS
PASTRY
◊ 3 cups flour
◊ 1 egg
◊ 1/2 cup vegetable oil
◊ 2 tablespoon powdered sugar
◊ 1 teaspoons butter softened
◊ 1 Tablespoonorange blossom water
FILLING
◊ 2 pounds almond flour
◊ 10 tablespoons butter
◊ 2 cups powdered sugar
◊ 1 teaspoon cinnamon
◊ Pinch of grated nutmeg
◊ 1/2 teaspoon orange blossom water
DIRECTIONS
PASTRY
Begin by mixing the flour, powdered sugar in a bowl with the softened butter and eggs. Use your hands to mix everything. Slowly pour in the oil while continuing to mix everything together.
Once incorporated the dough will barely hold together when squeezed. Very slowly add the orange blossom water while kneading. The final dough should be pliable and elastic, somewhat similar to a pasta dough.
FILLING
Mix all of the ingredients together to form a paste that sticks together when squeezed. Before you shape the pastry you’ll also need to crack an egg to serve as an egg wash.
◊ Start by running the dough through the pasta machine to create a long sheet of pastry approximately 4′′ wide. Keep running it through the machine until the dough is almost transparent – as thin as you can get it before it breaks. Pinch a ball of the filling weighing about 10GRAMS and roll to a thick log (see picture). Place on the dough strip with equal space between them. Brush egg wash to seal the dough directly above the filling.
◊ Fold the dough in half and make a small crescent or crown shape.
Continue for all of the filling balls. Do not pull the dough too tight as
you will need a little wiggle room as you continue to shape the cookies.
◊ Very carefully and slowly beginning at the bottom of the filling work the filling up into the dough on top. It should be close to 1′′ in height when you are complete. As you raise the height of the cookie you also should gently pull the cookie in towards you to create the crescent shape. Take your time as the dough can break and then you’ll have to cut off that portion and start again.
◊ Once the cookie is high enough, use the rib edged pastry cutter to cut off the excess dough. Leave a small amount of dough at the base of the cookie but not much. Place the cookies on an oiled baking pan and put into a 350F/175CUP oven for 10-12 minutes. The cookies will be a very pale brown when cooked through. They should not be crunchy.
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