gazelle Horns - Cornes de gazelles

 Years ago at the occasion of an invitation I ate for the first time this sort of a biscuit and felt immediatly in love with it.... But in my country it is not really known. Not so long ago I found it in on the menu of a teahouse and of course had to try it. But I was very disappointed. because it was not as delicious as I had it in my mind. So was it my memory who fooled me or was it just a bad quality ? So more than ever I wanted to find a recipe and much more difficult the ingredients to make it. In fact it is one ingredeinet that might be not so easy to find. Becaus to make those Gazelle Horns you need "Eau de fleurs d´orangers" - "Orange blossom water". I love the odour and the taste of orange blossoms. In France and especially in the south of France it is very common and used in different sweet treats or as fragrance in soaps, perfumed oils .... But it is not usual or even well known in my homecountry. First I discovered it in a deli in the center of the city. But for an incredible price and as you need quite a lot to get the Horns really tasty I resisted the temptation to buy it immediatly. As often by mere chance I met a lovely friend that I had not seen for quite a while. She is originary from Lebanon and therefore knows all those french-arab treats. So of course I had to ask her if she knows Gazelle Horns and where she gets all the ingredinets to cook tradtional meals from her country. And yippee she even had a easy to make - and as she told me tremendous delicious - recipe to bake those Horns. So first she gave me the recipe and  then the adress of a wholesale trade in my town where you  also can buy as a"normal" people. You may imagine that by the first occasion I had time, I went to this wholesale. I bought there olive oil, olives, falafellmix.. and of course also my "Eau de Fleurs d´orangers". And the best was for a more than fair price! The sky looking grey all the time, some rain falling...what else could one do than bake Gazelle  Horns? And really the recipe is easy, the taste is great and is for sure one of my favourite treat for the next time.

You need (for about 30 Gazelle Horns):

For the pastry:
- 200 g Wheat flour
- 80 g Melted butter

- 6 - 7 Tbsp. Eau de fleurs d´orangers

For the filling:

- 6 Tbsp. Eau de fleurs d´orangers

- 200 g finely ground and peeled Almonds (Almondflour)

- 70 g icing sugar

- 4 - 5 Tbsp. Eau de fleurs d´orangers

To finish:

- 50 ml Eau de fleurs d´orangers

- 150 g icing sugar

To prepare:

1. Mix together flour, melted butter and the blossom water until you get a smooth dough and let rest until you have finished the filling

2. Mix Almondflour, icingsugar and gradually add blossom water until you get a creamy consistency (a little bit like almond paste)

 

3. Roll the dough with a rolling pin as thin as possible and with a round cookie cutter  (I used one about 7 cm diameter) cut out rounds.

4. Form out of the Filling small rolls and place them on each dough round.

5. Then wrap the filling in the dough by folding  and then squeezing the edges tightly and sligthly curve them to get them in the shape of a horn

6. Place the Gazelle Horns on the oven tray armed with parchment paper and  bake in the preheated (180 C) oven for about 10 minutes (the Horns should stay pale)

7. To finish pour  Blossom water in a bowl and in another one the icing sugar. Soon after having taken out of the oven your horns, first dip them into the Blossom water and then roll them in the icing sugar. That way you will get a little bit crispy sugarcover.

Finally sit down, take a cup of tea and try the first bite of your Gazelle Horns....