Almond Cigars

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

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
Mediterranean
Yom Kippur
Vegetarian

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