M'hanncha (محنشة)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large rimmed baking sheet or 30cm round tray
• •Food processor or hand grinder
• •Pastry brush
• •Clean kitchen towel for covering warqa or filo
• •Small saucepan for warming honey

Instructions

1. 1

   Toast the almonds

   Heat the oven to 160C / 325F. Spread the almonds on a tray and toast for 10 to 12 minutes, shaking once, until they smell sweet and take only a pale gold color. Let them cool completely before grinding. Warm almonds release oil too fast, and the paste turns heavy before your hands have done any work.

2. 2

   Make almond paste

   Pulse the cooled almonds with the sugar, cinnamon, meska horra, and salt until fine, stopping before the mixture turns oily. Add the melted butter and 2 tbsp orange blossom water, then pulse just until it clumps when squeezed. The paste should feel like soft clay, not wet sand; add the extra teaspoon of orange blossom water only if it refuses to hold.

   Crush meska horra with a spoonful of the sugar before grinding it in. It is powerful, and a pinch is enough.
3. 3

   Roll the ropes

   Turn the almond paste onto the counter and knead it for half a minute, just until smooth. Divide it into 6 equal pieces and roll each one into a rope about 35 to 40 cm long, roughly the thickness of your thumb. Keep the ropes covered while you work so the almond paste stays supple.

4. 4

   Ready the sheets

   Raise the oven to 180C / 350F and line a large baking sheet or round tray with parchment. Put the warqa or filo under a barely damp towel and work with one section at a time. Warqa stays supple only while covered; once dry, it cracks, and a cracked sheet cannot make a clean coil.

   If using filo, use 2 sheets per almond rope and brush melted butter between them. If using warqa, one generous sheet or overlapping smaller sheets can hold each rope.
5. 5

   Wrap each rope

   Lay a buttered pastry strip with the long side facing you. Place one almond rope along the lower third, fold the side edges in, then roll the pastry around the filling into a long loose cigar. Seal the edge with egg white or flour paste. Roll it snug enough to hold, not tight; the almond expands as it warms, and a tight roll tears.

6. 6

   Coil the pastry

   Set the first roll seam side down in the center of the tray and curl it into a spiral. Add the next roll by tucking its end under the first and sealing the join, then keep coiling until the snake is complete. Leave a breath between the rings so the pastry can crisp without splitting. Brush the whole coil with melted butter.

7. 7

   Bake it gold

   Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through, until the pastry is deep gold, dry to the touch, and crisp at the outer curve. If the edges color too quickly, lower the oven to 170C / 340F for the last minutes. The pastry must bake through before the honey goes on, or the glaze will soften what your hands worked to build.

8. 8

   Honey and serve

   Warm the honey with 1 tbsp orange blossom water until loose and fragrant. Brush or spoon it over the hot m'hanncha, then scatter with toasted sesame seeds and sliced almonds. Let it rest for 15 minutes so the honey settles into the layers. Dust lightly with icing sugar and a little cinnamon if you like, then bring it whole to the table and cut it into wedges with mint tea beside it.

Chef Tips

• •Warqa is the old leaf for this. Filo is a fair home substitute, but be honest about it and use two layers so it doesn't tear around the almond rope.
• •Buy almonds from a shop with turnover and taste one before you grind. A tired almond gives the whole pastry a stale back note; no orange blossom water can save it.
• •This is not a place for every spice in the cupboard. Cinnamon, orange blossom, almond, honey, and a breath of meska horra carry the Fassi register. La balance est dans les yeux, and in the nose.
• •The coil should be generous, not clenched. Tight pastry splits as the filling warms.
• •Il n'y a pas une cuisine marocaine, mais des cuisines marocaines (not one Moroccan cuisine, but many). M'hanncha speaks in the Fassi city register of almond, warqa, orange blossom, and tea.

Advance Preparation

• •Make the almond paste up to 2 days ahead. Wrap it tightly and chill it, then bring it back to room temperature before rolling or it will crack.
• •Toast the almonds the day before if you need calm on the celebration morning. Cool them completely before covering.
• •Bake m'hanncha the morning you plan to serve it. Once honeyed, don't wrap it tightly or the warqa softens; keep it loosely covered at room temperature.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 110g)