M'hanncha

M'hanncha is a Moroccan pastry filled with almond paste which basically looks like a big Cumberland sausage. M'hanncha means the 'snake' and look like this;

I used a recipe for M'hanncha from Jamie's book; Jamie Does.... Morocco, to try and make the pastry sometime back and unfortunately it turned out pretty bad. The filo dried out super fast and I couldn't fold and turn it into a snake. The work top was a mess once I was done; butter and broken bits of filo stuck every where and once I pulled out the baked product, the filling and oozed out of the sides. Sure it was disappointing but the filling tasted amazing.

So when I was wondering what to make to put into the boxes for the dinner, I thought I'd make M'hanncha only this time make then into mini cigars. I suppose you could say the whole point of M'hanncha; the snake was lost. But then again whose to say I can't do it :P

I think the first time was such a disaster because I used a thin filo which I'm told is used for Baklava. Second time around I bought a different pastry. So my suggestion would be not to use the normal black package ones that you get at the supermarkets. The cigars turned out well. I wrapped them in foil and then in craft paper and stuck on the labels. The brother and sister-in-law helped with the boxes and this is what they looked like;