| |
Pastry Coils Filled With Almond Paste ("The Snake")
(M'hannsha)
|
|
|
| What You Need: |
|
|
|
6 sheets filo pastry, each about 16 inches long and 12 inches wide
8 tablespoons (1 quarter-pound stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus 4 to 8 tablespoons butter
1 recipe for almond-paste filling
2 to 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
¼ cup sugar mixed with ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| How To Cook: |
|
|
1. With a pastry wheel or sharp knife, cut each filo sheet in half crosswise to make a dozen 8-by-12-inch rectangles. For each m'hannsha, brush the entire top of one filo rectangle lightly with melted butter, then fold the filo in half to make a two-layered rectangle 8 inches long and 6 inches wide. Brush again with melted butter.
|
2. Spoon the almond paste into a pastry bag fitted with a ¼-inch plain tip and pipe the paste along the 8-inch side of the rectangle about ½ inch from the eqge and to within about 1 inch of each end.
|
3. Turn the edge of the filo over the almond paste and roll the rectangle into a tight cylinder, tucking in the ends as you proceed. Brush the cylinder with a little butter and shape it into a coil.
|
4. When all of the m'hannsha have been filled and shaped, melt 2 tablespoon of butter with 1 tablespoon of oil in a heavy 10- to 12-inch skillet.
|
5. When the foam begins to subside, add 2 of the m'hannsha and brown them in the hot fat, turning them over gently with a wide metal spatula and regulating the heat so that they color richly and evenly without burning.
|
|
6. Transfer the browned pastries to a plate and sprinkle them with a little of the sugar-and-cinnamon mixture. Brown the remaining m'hannsha in the same fashion, adding butter and oil to the skillet as needed. Serve the pastries warm or at room tempetature.
|
|
| |
| Serving Size: 12 small pastries |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
