Delights of the Lamp Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 lb 2 oz fl our + extra for work surface
• 7 oz butter, softened
• 3 Tbsp superfine sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp confectioners’ sugar

• 1 lb 2 oz sliced almonds
• 7 oz superfine sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp orange flower water
• 1¾ oz crystallized rose petals

1. Caravan drivers with their camels cross miles of dusty desert to eat these pastries! To you, my Friend, I will reveal their secret.
2. Make the pastry by rubbing together the sifted flour and butter with your fingertips, until the mixture resembles the sand of the dunes, then stir in the superfine sugar. Next, add the cinnamon and confectioners’ sugar and let it rest for the time it takes you to go and smell the roses of the Sultan.
3. Place the almonds in a pan over a gentle heat without letting your mind wander, or else they will burn! And when they have turned the color of the sand of the oasis at sunrise . . . What’s that? You have never gazed upon the oasis at sunrise? Remind me to take you there. So, when the almonds are golden brown, grind them finely and mix them with the sugar, cinnamon, orange flower water, and rose petals. Shape the mixture into small balls.
4. Heat the oven to 350°F.
5. Using a rolling pin or rolled-up carpet, roll out the pastry dough 4 mm thick on a floured surface and using an upturned glass or a cookie cutter, cut out an even number of circles from the dough. Place a ball of filling on half of the circles and place a second circle of pastry on top, sealing the edges so that the mischievous filling does not escape. Bake your little pastries in the oven for about 15 minutes.
6. Be careful, my Friend, make sure they stay a light brown. Otherwise they will become hard like the pebbles on the edge of the oasis at sunrise. You still don’t know? Well then, we will go there tomorrow on my best flying carpet!