Epicurious
by Amy Sherman
I was pleasantly surprised by all the delicious pastries in Morocco. The wide range of rich cookies and treats pair wonderfully with the strong Moroccan mint tea that is served all the time. If you like almonds, you’re in luck. There are flaky cookies with almonds, crunchy cookies with almonds, and meltingly tender buttery cookies with almonds.
A couple of my favorite almond cookies were Gazelle’s Horns and the Almond Ghoribas. Gazelle’s Horns are delicate pastry filled with almond paste. I was so fond of them that I brought home a dozen! Ghoriba refers to Moroccan cookies that are shaped by hand, according to Christine Benlafquih. Almond ghoribas taste a bit like macaroons and are not complicated to make. Benlafquih offers several ghoribas recipes and a recipe for Gazelle’s Horn cookies, but I would be most inclined to use Paula Wolfert’s recipe. She discovered a way to make the pastry in a food processor that she says reduces the 20 minute kneading time to 40 seconds. You’ll find her recipe in her recent book, The Food of Morocco.
With or without pastries, Moroccan mint tea is very refreshing and a nice pick me up. It’s a very social drink in Morocco so enjoy it with a friend. Make a pot to serve after a Moroccan dinner or with whatever pastries you like. This lovely recipe comes from Gourmet, after the jump…
1 tablespoon loose Chinese gunpowder green tea
5 cups boiling water
3 to 4 tablespoons sugar, or to taste
1 large bunch fresh mint (1 ounce)
Special equipment : a 1- to 1 1/2-quart teapot
Put tea in teapot and pour in 1 cup boiling water, then swirl gently to warm pot and rinse tea. Strain out and discard water, reserving tea leaves in pot. Add remaining 4 cups boiling water to tea and let steep 2 minutes. Stir in sugar (to taste) and mint sprigs and steep 3 to 4 minutes more. Serve in small heatproof glasses.
Tagged with: Amy Sherman, Recipes, Travel
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