Almond Cigars

Name: Almond Cigars (Cigares aux Amandes, or Briks aux Amandes)
Yield: Makes 24 pastries
Cuisine: Moroccan
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon ground ginger; 1 egg white, lightly beaten, if using feuilles de brik or egg roll wrappers; 1 egg white as needed; 1 ½ cups sugar; 1 teaspoon ground cloves; 1 tablespoon orange-flower water; peanut oil for deep-frying; ¾ cup orange blossom honey; 2 egg yolks; ¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) butter or margarine, melted if using filo; 4 cups (1 ⅓ pounds) blanched almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped; 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 12 feuilles de brik, or 24 square egg roll wrappers, or 1 pound filo dough

Cigares aux Amandes, or Briks aux Amandes

Preparation info

Makes
24
pastries

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Saffron Shores

By Joyce Goldstein

Published 2002

About

Moroccans and Tunisians are fond of these flaky nut-filled sweets. In Algeria, they are served after the Yom Kippur fast, but the filling omits ginger, cloves, and orange-flower water and uses simply almonds, sugar, lemon, and cinnamon. Some are filled with walnuts instead of almonds. These may also be called briouats.

Ingredients

For the Filling

4 cups (1 ⅓ pounds) blanched almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped
1 ½ cups

Africa
Dessert
Pastry
Vegetarian
Mediterranean
Yom Kippur

Method

To make the filling, in a food processor, grind the almonds and sugar together in batches. Pulse in the spices, egg yolks, and orange-flower water. If the paste is too dry, add the egg white. Divide into 24 balls of almond paste. (Tunisians add a bit of semolina to the filling.)

If using feuilles de brik or egg roll wrappers: Cut the feuilles de brik in half. Place a strip