Gazelle Horns (Kaab el Ghazal)

“Gazelle horns,” made in Morocco and elsewhere in the Maghreb, are sweets that wrap nuts and floral fragrance in a thin shell. The almond filling is packed densely, the pieces are bent into slender-tipped crescents, and they are baked without letting the dough puff up much. The French name cornes de gazelle and the Moroccan kaab al-ghazal evoke the same shape, but the two names do not refer to the same part of the animal’s body.

Fitting a thin shell to the filling

The basic modern almond version consists of a wheat-flour shell and a filling of almonds, sugar, butter and orange blossom water. The two are made separately, and the filling is first shaped into finger-sized sticks. The filling is soft yet holds its shape, and a thinly rolled shell is fitted around it. The method differs from that of sweets in which the dough is made thick and allowed to rise, as with bread.

Kneading and resting the shell dough makes it less likely to shrink when rolled thin. The shell is pressed along the filling and sealed without leaving any air, and the overlapping excess is cut off. In some methods, small holes are pricked before baking to keep the surface from puffing up. By shaping the filling first and removing the excess shell, each piece is formed into an arc of even thickness that tapers toward the tips.

Orange blossom water is not a juice but an aromatic water into which the fragrance of the flowers has been transferred. Its role differs from that of ingredients that add acidity: it layers a floral fragrance over the fat of the almonds and the sweetness of the sugar. Some households add cinnamon and the like, and there is no single aromatic profile.

Different finishes with powdered sugar, nuts and honey

Besides leaving the thin shell visible, there are finishes such as a thick coating of powdered sugar or a topping of nuts. In Tétouan in northern Morocco, there are versions with edges decorated in a wavy pattern, and kaab ghzal mfannad covers a slightly thicker shell with a thick layer of powdered sugar. In the Larousse recipe (ingredient proportions and method), the wrapped shell is brushed with egg yolk and topped with sliced almonds before baking. In Algerian tcharak msakkar, the pastries are soaked in syrup and coated with powdered sugar.

Besides orange blossom water, some versions perfume the almond filling with rose water or cinnamon. A household tcharak nakache is filled with dates and decorated with patterns using a special pinching tool. Almond sticks and fruit paste differ both in the color of the cut surface and in how they feel when bitten. With a modern method that mixes honey into the almond filling and also brushes it on the baked surface, what touches the tongue first is not a film of sugar but glossy honey.

Served with tea at Moroccan celebrations

In Morocco, they are counted among the sweets for celebrations such as Eid, together with honeyed briouats and ghriba. At weddings, almond horns are sometimes arranged with other small sweets and served to guests with tea. Assortments of sweets are also prepared for birth celebrations, but they are not limited to “gazelle horns.” Moroccan food culture, including the celebration table, combines Amazigh, Arab-Andalusian and Jewish backgrounds.

Names meaning “horn” and “ankle,” and a medieval sweet

The French cornes de gazelle and the Arabic qarn al-ghazāl (qarn al-ghazal) call the pointed arc a “horn.” On the other hand, in kaʿb al-ghazāl (kaab al-ghazal), a name also used in Morocco, kaʿb refers in this name to the “ankle” or “heel.” Although it is a “horn” in French, there are also Arabic names that liken it to an “ankle.”

The 13th-century “Exile’s Cookbook” also contains a sweet named “gazelle’s ankles.” As translated and recreated by Arab culinary historian Daniel Newman, it takes the form not of today’s crescent but of a thin rolled stick. The shell uses flour, olive oil, hot water and salt with spices such as fennel and anise, and the filling consists of almonds, sugar and rose water. A luxurious version with added pine nuts is also mentioned.

The wrapping of nuts in a thin shell and the name are similar, but the medieval sweet was stick-shaped and used olive oil in the shell and rose water in the filling. It differs from today’s crescent-shaped sweet in shape as well as in its fats and aromatic ingredients. Newman regards this medieval sweet as an ancestor of the modern one, and also presents Algerian msakkar as a sweet of the same lineage.

An Algerian crescent measured with her mother’s bowl

In chef Samia Bouchenafa’s tcharak el aryane, an almond stick is placed on dough rolled into a triangle and rolled up like a croissant, then brushed with egg and topped with nuts. Even the way it is wrapped differs from the method of covering the filling with the shell and trimming around it.

Having learned Algerian pastry-making from her mother, she says that even though she has come to measure precisely in her professional work, she uses her mother’s bowl for traditional sweets and keeps measurements such as “heaped” and “one finger less.” Along with the sweets, what has been handed down is not only the numbers in the proportions but also the sense of measuring with the household’s own vessels.

Her family makes them all year round, not only for celebrations, and serves them with mint tea or Turkish coffee. She also describes one of their pleasures: because no syrup is poured over them, they are less likely to make your hands sticky even when carried around. Unlike msakkar, which is coated in syrup and powdered sugar, this is a crescent-shaped sweet that is also eaten in everyday life.

Glossary