Kaab el Ghazal (Almond Gazelle Horns)

Make the filling: knead the ground almonds, icing sugar, cinnamon, half the butter and 2 tbsp orange blossom water into a smooth, firm marzipan. Roll it into thin ropes and cut into 5 cm lengths, tapering the ends to points.

Make the pastry: rub the remaining butter into the flour and salt, then add the warm water and last of the orange blossom water to a smooth, very elastic dough. Knead 10 minutes and rest 30 minutes.

💡 The pastry must be rolled almost see-through thin — that is the whole character of kaab el ghazal. A well-kneaded, well-rested dough is stretchy enough to take it without tearing; a slack one will split.

Roll the pastry out as thinly as you can. Lay the almond ropes along one edge, a few centimetres apart.

Fold the pastry over the filling, press the air out and seal around each mound, then cut around them in half-moons with a pastry wheel.

Gently curve each half-moon inward into a horn shape and sit them on a lined tray. Prick each once or twice with a pin.

💡 The pinprick lets steam out so the pastry does not balloon and burst off the filling. Curve them gently — too sharp a bend cracks the thin dough.

Bake at 170°C for just 12–15 minutes. They should stay pale — barely blushed, never browned.

💡 Kaab el ghazal is meant to be pale and soft, not golden and crisp. The moment the edges take the faintest colour, they are done — a minute too long dries the delicate almond centre out.

Cool fully, then dust lightly with icing sugar. They keep in a tin, layered between paper, for a week.