A Middle Eastern affair....

Unfortunately my hopes of having a week dedicated to chocolate & Baking didn't turn out quite the way i wanted, but i won't disappoint for long and i promise a chocolate & Baking week will be on the cards very soon so continue to watch this space.

Today i took inspiration from the cuisine of the middle east and North Africa from Lebanese style pizzas, Falafel
eggplant dips to delicately perfumed pastries with sweet nutty fillings. One of these pastries, originally from Morocco known as 'the snake' or 'M'hanncha', was particularly delicious and fun to make. M'hanncha is typically made of a sweet buttery almond filling wrapped up in filo pastry and then coiled in the shape of a snake!
Although the recipe may look hard do give it a try, it's well worth it.

The recipe i used is based on the one i found in  Jamie Does....cookbook, which i tweaked a little and instead of making one big M'hannca as shown in the picture below, i decided to make 6 little ones, the result was still excellent just individual portions for everyone!

Here is my slightly tweaked version of the recipe:
M'hanncha with Date sauce - makes 6 individual portions
350g butter, at room temperature
350g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
3 large eggs
350g ground almonds
1 tablespoon plain flour
5 tablespoons rose water
12 sheets of filo pastry

For the date sauce:
150g dates, stoned and roughly chopped,
450ml orange juice

1) Preheat your oven to 180c/gas mark 4.
2) cream the butter and icing sugar together in a bowl until soft and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, gently folding them into the butter mix.
3) Add the ground almonds and flour and rose water and combine everything together.
4) Lay two filo sheets, one on top of the other in front of you, spoon some filling in a line along the long edge closest to you, leaving a border all the way.
5) Carefully, starting at the edge closest to you, fold the pastry over the filling. Keep rolling it tightly until you have a long sausage.
6) quickly and carefully starting at one end, roll the pastry around to form a small coil, make sure the ends are neatly tucked in.
7) Follow this way with the rest of the pastries. Place them on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 45 min, until the pastry is crisp and golden.
8) Leave to cool, while you continue with the sauce.
9) Put the dates and orange juice in a small pan and bring to the boil,then reduce the heat and simmer and cook for 20 minutes. Leave to cool for a few minutes then blitz in a food processor for a smooth and thick sauce.
10) Dust the M'hanncha's with icing sugar, drizzle over the date sauce and a scoop of good quality vanilla ice-cream. Enjoy!