Recipe: Moroccan M’hanncha (The Snake) Cake

Recipe: Moroccan M’hanncha (The Snake) Cake

Ingredients

6 oz (12 tbsp) butter, melted plus another cup for brushing phyllo dough
4 oz (1 cup) sliced almonds, toasted
4 oz (2/3 cup) granulated sugar
11 oz (2 3/4 cups) almond meal
2 oz (1/2 cup) powdered sugar
1 egg lightly beaten
1 ½ tbsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp orange flower water, divided
12 oz phyllo dough
1 egg yolk lightly beaten with some water
¼ cup honey

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit with the rack in the middle. Let the phyllo dough thaw if you have not already.

Place the sliced almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat, mix often and toast until the nuts are golden fragrant, about 5 minutes. Watch carefully as the almonds can burn easily. Transfer nuts to a heat safe bowl to cool.

Pulse the toasted almonds with the granulated sugar in a food processor until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. The sugar will help prevent the nuts from turning into almond butter. Add the 6oz melted butter, almond meal, the whole egg, powdered sugar and cinnamon to the food processor, keeping almond/sugar in the bowl. Process until the mixture is well combined, scraping down the edges as needed.

Grease the 12 inch cast iron skillet with butter. Unroll the phyllo dough, place on a large clean work surface. Have the 1 cup melted butter handy. While you are working, keep the stack of unrolled phyllo dough lightly covered with a clean damp cloth or plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out. Carefully take one sheet of the phyllo dough and place it longways in front of you. Lightly brush with a layer of the melted butter. Continue to layer in this way with two more sheets, brushing butter in between each layer and on the top most layer.
Roll a golf ball sized piece of the almond mixture in your hands until you have a 1/2 inch snake. Piece the snakes together until they are long enough to fit the entire length of the stacked phyllo sheets. Place the almond snake at the edge of the phyllo dough, lay the snakes across the dough so they fit end to end. Starting at the side closest to you, roll the dough until you have a long coil. Continue to make these coils in the same way until you have enough to make a single layer in the skillet. They will resemble cinnamon buns. Place the coils in the skillet, they can and will touch.

Brush the tops of the pastries with the egg yolk wash. Bake for about 30 minutes or until crisp and golden brown. Gently heat the honey and the 1 tbsp of orange flower water, drizzle it over the pastry. Serve warm or at room temperature.

~ Marla Meridith

Recipe: Mini Pumpkin Spice Hand Pies

Ingredients

Directions

~ Marla Meridith

Recipe: Sweet Summer Raspberry Tarts

Ingredients

Directions

~ Marla Meridith

Bacon, Egg & Cheese Hand Pies

Ingredients

Directions

~ Marla Meridith

Bacon, Egg & Cheese Hand Pies

Ingredients

Directions

~ Marla Meridith

Bacon, Egg & Cheese Hand Pies

Ingredients

Directions

~ Marla Meridith

Recipe: Apple Turnovers

Looking for a pastry thats super simple, totally homemade and out of this world delicious?! Bring on the apple hand pies!

Ingredients

For the Pastry
2 ½ cups cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tbsp granulated sugar
½ tsp salt
20 tbsp cold unsalted butter, preferably a high-fat, European-style butter, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
4-6 tbsp ice cold water
Filling and Assem
2 apples, cored & dices (I prefer Honey Crisp or Pink Lady)
1 tbsp unsalted butter
cup pure maple syrup
1 tsp lemon juice
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 egg beaten
coarse sanding sugar, to top pastry

Directions

Pie crust: In a food processor, briefly pulse together the flour, sugar and salt. Add the butter and pulse until mixture forms chickpea-size pieces (3 to 5 one-second pulses). Be sure the butter is cold at this step. Add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse until mixture is just moist enough to hold together. You should be able to pinch it & it stays together. Form dough into two balls, wrap with plastic and flatten into a disk. Refrigerate at least 1 hour to 24 hours before rolling out and baking.

Apple filling: Heat the butter in a small sauté pan over medium heat. Add the apples, cinnamon, maple syrup & lemon juice. Cook a few minutes until apples are softened & fragrant. Carefully pour out the extra juices, you don’t want mushy hand pies!

Assemble the hand pies: Remove the dough from the refrigerator & let it sit out a few minutes until just pliable. Roll out one dough disk into 1/8 inch thickness, punch out round shapes (you can keep the other disk in the fridge while you work) I used a 4 inch round cookie cutter. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the apple mixture onto the middle of a dough disk. Wet the rim of the disk with some water. Fold the disk together and seal all sides with your fingers.

Continue to do this until you have used up all the dough. Place shapes on a cookie sheet. Refrigerate pies for 30 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit with the rack in the middle. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove the pies from the refrigerator. Place them on the baking sheets. Score each pie in the middle with a knife, so they can vent while they bake. Brush egg yolk on each hand pie & sprinkle with some sugar. Bake for about 20-40 minutes (all depends on how thick you rolled the dough) Rotate the pan half way through baking.The pies will be golden brown and flakey when done. Remove from the oven & let cool a bit before serving. Enjoy!

~ Marla Meridith