briouats with honey and almonds

Ingredients for about 100 cakes :

* 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) of almonds * 375 g (14 oz) of caster sugar * 2 teaspoonfuls of cinnamon

* 4 whole eggs * 3/4 litre (1 1/2 pts) of oil (to fry the almonds)

* 1/2 teaglassful or orange-flower water * 2 kg (4 lbs 7oz) of honey

* oil for frying * 1 bastela or ouarka pastry layer measuring 15 x 10 cm (6’ x 4”) for each envelope

Preparation: 

Peel the almonds and put 3/4 litre of oil on to boil. Wipe the almonds and put them in the oil. Let them colour very slightly and remove at once from the oil and drain. Keep the oil.

Pass these fried almonds through a meat mincer. Put half of their frying oil back on the heat and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and add the crushed almonds with the sugar and cinnamon to the oil, then the beaten eggs, little by little, stirring all the time. Add the orange-flower water and remove from the heat.

When the almond paste is cold fold the briouats either in triangles or oblongs following the instructions given on page 77 Fry in oil, browning them on both sides and dip while still piping hot in boiling honey. Allow the briouats to absorb the honey while the next batch are browning in the fat. Then take them from the honey and leave to drip. While each batch of briouats is frying, re-heat the honey for a few moments to keep it really hot.
When cold, the briouats can be stored in an airtight tin.