Gazelle Ankles

Almond paste in pastry rolled thin enough to see through, baked pale and pricked so the crescents do not split.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter).

Ingredients

For the filling

• 500 g ground almonds
• 250 g icing sugar
• 80 g butter, softened
• 3 tablespoons orange blossom water
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 egg yolk
• zest of 1 lemon

For the pastry

• 300 g plain flour
• 80 g butter, melted
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons orange blossom water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• about 100 ml warm water

To finish

• orange blossom water, to brush
• icing sugar, to dust

Method

1. THEY ARE BAKED UNTIL THEY ARE BARELY COLOURED AND NO FURTHER. Fifteen minutes at 160C, out while still almost white with the faintest gold at the base. A browned gazelle ankle is a biscuit; a pale one is a thin shell around a soft almond paste, which is the whole point. This is the step that instinct fights hardest.
2. EACH ONE IS PRICKED TWICE WITH A PIN BEFORE BAKING. The almond paste gives off steam, the pastry is sealed, and without a hole the crescent splits along its curve and the filling comes out. Two small holes on the top, no more -- they close as it bakes.
3. THE PASTRY IS ROLLED UNTIL YOU CAN SEE YOUR HAND THROUGH IT. Thicker than that and the ratio goes wrong: this is mostly almond with a skin on it, not a pastry with a filling.
4. Filling: ground almonds, icing sugar, cinnamon and zest mixed. Butter, yolk and orange blossom water worked in with the hands to a firm paste that holds its shape.
5. Rested 30 minutes, then rolled into finger-thick sausages about 6 cm long, tapered at both ends.
6. Pastry: flour and salt in a bowl. Melted butter, egg and orange blossom water worked in, then enough warm water for a soft, smooth dough.
7. Kneaded 10 minutes until elastic -- this one wants the work, because it has to stretch very thin without tearing.
8. Rested 1 hour, covered.
9. Rolled out in small pieces, as thin as possible, on a lightly floured surface. A pasta machine on its second-thinnest setting does it well.
10. A sausage of filling laid along the pastry about 3 cm from the edge, the pastry folded over it, and pressed down firmly all around with the fingertips to seal and exclude air.
11. Cut out around the filling with a pastry wheel, leaving a narrow border, then CURVED into a crescent and the ends pinched to points.
12. Pricked twice on top with a pin and set on a lined tray.
13. Baked at 160C for 15 minutes. Out while pale.
14. Brushed with orange blossom water while warm and dusted heavily with icing sugar. They keep three weeks in a tin.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

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