Name: Moroccan Sesame Almond Filling for Pastries
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 10 servings
Cuisine: Moroccan
Ingredients: 250 g blanched almonds, lightly toasted; 50 g roasted sesame seeds; 80 g icing sugar; 50 g butter, softened; 1 tablespoon orange blossom water; 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1 to 2 tablespoons honey, to bind if needed; 1 a pinch of salt

Before you cook

This filling stands alone as a spoonable sweet, or fills briouat pastry if you want to fold and fry it. Both are worth doing.

Grind the almonds coarsely rather than to a powder. A little bite in the paste is what separates it from marzipan.

Method

Toast the almonds in a dry pan until fragrant and lightly coloured.
Cool them fully, because warm nuts turn to paste too fast when ground.
Pulse the almonds in short bursts until coarsely and evenly ground.
Stop before they release oil and clump into a wet mass.
Grind the roasted sesame separately to a similarly coarse texture.
Combine the ground almonds, sesame, icing sugar, cinnamon and salt.
Work in the softened butter and orange blossom water by hand.
Add honey a teaspoon at a time only if the mixture will not hold together.
Roll into small balls, or reserve as a spoonable paste for pastries.
Store airtight; it keeps a week at room temperature or a month chilled.

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