I understand that this recipe is Moroccan in origin; I first cooked it about 10 years ago because the picture in the ‘Two Fat Ladies’ cookbook intrigued me. So very glad I did try it because although I wasn’t mad about almonds then, I love them now and this is a recipe I wouldn’t want to be without. An orange flower water scented, almond coil wrapped in filo and brushed with melted butter. It’s simple but utterly delicious. The middle is fudge-like in consistency, the outer coils border on chewiness. A delight.

Preheat the oven to GM4/180C/350F and grease a loose-bottomed, shallow flan or springform tin.

Start by putting 8oz ground almonds and 8oz icing sugar into a bowl

Mix them together with a fork

and add 3 tbsp orange flower water and 1/2 tsp almond extract.

Stir in to make quite a dry paste.

Whisk an egg white to stiff peaks and add half of it to the paste. You can throw the other half away, well, you can do what you like with it, but you only need half for this recipe.

Once you’ve mixed it in, divide the paste into 3.

You need 6 sheets of filo. Take the first sheet and brush it with melted butter, then lay a second sheet on top and brush that with butter too.

Form one of the 3 sections of paste into a sausage shape, then elongate it so that it is nearly the same length as the pastry. The easiest way is to squeeze and stretch in your hands, then lay it on top of the buttered filo and roll it to and fro until it’s long enough. I momentarily attempted this on the worksurface until I remembered that buttered pastry was non-stick. Duh.

Lay it along the top of the pastry sheets

then roll it up so you have a filo-wrapped almond sausage. A very long sausage.

Starting in the middle of the greased tin, curl up this first section.

Repeat with the next two sections of paste and 4 sheets of filo to make another 2 long sausages. Join each section onto the last one to continue the coil. I was a bit quick with the joining up and paid for it because I had a split snake. It doesn’t matter, but if you don’t want to split your snake, leave a bit more filo at the end of each section so that the almond paste has somewhere to grow in the heat of the oven.

Brush the whole thing with more melted butter.

Shhhh. Don’t wake up the snake.

Into the oven for 30-40 mins or until golden brown.

Leave it to cool in the tin, then once cool, remove it to a plate and dust with more icing sugar.

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The Snake

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8oz ground almonds
8oz icing sugar, sifted (plus enough to dust)
3tbsp orange flower water
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 egg white, stiffly whisked
6 sheets filo pastry
melted butter

Preheat oven to GM4/180C/350F
Grease a shallow 8″ loose-bottomed or springform pan.

Put the ground almonds and icing sugar in a medium bowl. Mix.
Add the orange flower water and almond extract. Mix together with a fork then gather the dryish paste together with your hand.
Mix half the egg white in – discard the other half.
Divide the paste into three and form into a sausage shape.

Take one sheet of filo and brush it with melted butter.
Put another sheet on top and brush that with melted butter too.

Take one of the long pieces of the paste and roll it to lengthen the sausage shape. (It’s easiest to roll this with your hands on top of the buttered pastry)
Lay it lengthways at the top of the filo and roll it up carefully in the pastry.

Curl the pastry-wrapped sausage into a whirl and place in the middle of the tin.

Repeat twice to make two more pastry-wrapped rolls.

Join the second piece onto the end of the first; the third on to the end of the second to create a large whirl at the bottom of the tin – a coiled snake, in fact.
Brush your snake well with melted butter then bake for 30-40 mins or until golden brown.

Cool in the tin, then when cold, remove from the tin, place on a plate and dust with icing sugar.
Cut into slices, just like you would with a cake, to serve.