Ingredients

makes 22-24 balls

　　2 cups ground almonds

　　1 cup superfine sugar

　　1 or 2 drops of almond extract (optional)

　　About 3 tablespoons rose or orange-blossom water

　　12 blanched almonds or pistachio nuts to garnish (optional)

　　Confectioners’ sugar to roll the balls in at the end

　　

Step 1

Mix the ground almonds and sugar in a bowl. Add the almond extract if you wish (I prefer it without), and rose or orange-blossom water, and work well with your hands. The mixture will seem dry at first, but the almonds will release enough oil to bind the mixture. Knead to a soft doughy paste.

　　

Step 2

Shape into 1-inch balls (the size of large marbles) and roll in confectioners’ sugar. Decorate each ball, if you like, with a split almond or pistachio stuck on top.

　　

Variations

Step 3

Instead of 1 cup superfine sugar, use 2 cups confectioners’ sugar.

　　

Step 4

Do the same recipe with ground pistachio nuts instead of almonds and stick a whole pistachio on the top. These green balls are heavenly.

　　

Step 5

Stuff the almond balls with chopped pistachios. This is really superb. Make a little hole in each almond ball with your finger and fill it with chopped pistachios mixed with sugar. Close the hole over the pistachios and shape into a ball again. Roll the balls in confectioners’ sugar and place them in small paper cases. Decorate the top of each ball with a whole or half pistachio which has been stripped of its thin skin to make its greenness apparent.

　　

Step 6

In Iraq, almond paste, colored yellow with moistened saffron powder, is flattened in a tray, cut into lozenges, and covered with gold-leaf paper. Thus adorned, it is sent to friends by a bride’s family to celebrate her wedding.

　　The New Book of Middle Eastern Food Copyright © 2000Knopf