Cornes de Gazelle and Other Moroccan Sweet

Moroccans, noted for their sweet tooth, are devoted to tissue-thin pastry wrapped around sweetmeat fillings of pounded almonds, dates or figs, flavoured with the distilled essences of orange blossoms or rose petals, and soaked in honey. Sweets such as m’hanncha, kaab elghzal, ghoriba and shebbakia have brought a glimmer of delight to the eyes of jaded Moroccans ever since the times of the sultans and caliphs. Indeed, so expensive were sugar, nuts, rosewater and exotic spices in those far off days that only the sultans, caliphs and their favourites could afford them. And vast trays of sweetmeats and pastries were consumed, so legend has it, to the sound of music and poetry as fair-skinned maidens moved their well-rounded bodies to the sensuous sound of lutes and tambours.