History

Kaab el ghazal (gazelle horns), called cornes de gazelle in French, is the Fassi pastry classic adopted across Morocco. The name refers to the crescent shape, said to evoke a gazelle's antler. Traditionally a wedding and Eid sweet; today, almond pastries sit on every Moroccan pastry-shop counter year-round and especially at Eid al-Fitr (March 20 to 22, 2026).

Common allergens: Gluten, Nuts

Make it at home

Yield Makes 24Hands-on 1 hrTotal 2 hrDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 300 g blanched almonds
  • 200 g powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp orange-blossom water
  • 50 g unsalted butter, softened
  • 250 g plain flour
  • 1 egg
  • 50 ml warm water
  • Pinch salt
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • Extra powdered sugar, for dusting

Method

  1. Grind almonds with sugar and cinnamon to a fine paste in a food processor. Add 1 tbsp orange-blossom water and 25 g butter; pulse to combine. Shape into small crescents (8 cm long).
  2. For the pastry: combine flour, salt, egg, remaining butter, oil, 1 tbsp orange-blossom water and warm water. Knead 8 minutes to a smooth elastic dough. Rest 30 minutes.
  3. Roll the dough paper-thin (use a pasta machine if you have one). Cut into squares slightly larger than the almond crescents.
  4. Place each almond crescent on a square; fold and press the dough around, pinching out air. Trim to a clean crescent shape. Pierce with a fork to vent.
  5. Bake at 170C/325F for 15 minutes until the pastry is pale ivory (not browned). Cool fully; dust with powdered sugar.

Tip from the editors. Don't let the pastries colour in the oven; they should stay almost white. If browned, the almond filling dries out and the crescent cracks on the bite.

Where to eat kaab el ghazal (cornes de gazelle)

Kaab el Ghazal (Cornes de Gazelle) in Marrakech

Patisserie Amandine ★ 4.4

Bakery$$guelizDaily 07:00-21:00Walk-in onlyFrench-Moroccan pastries with almond focus

Patisserie Amandine in Marrakech's Gueliz, since 1997, runs the city's best French-Moroccan bakery counter; viennoiseries, flans, almond pastries.

Tip: Take-away counter at the front; cafe at the back. Lighter mornings; afternoons fill with Gueliz regulars.

Worth the queue: Opera cake and cornes de gazelle

175 Rue Mohamed El Beqal, Gueliz, Marrakech 40000

Patisserie des Princes ★ 4.2

Bakery$medinaDaily 06:00-23:00

Patisserie des Princes on Rue Bab Agnaou in Marrakech's medina runs the budget tea-room: pastries 14 to 30 MAD, air-conditioned back room, daily from 06:00.

Try: Moroccan pastry and mint tea

Tip: Pastries 14 to 18 DH single; box of mixed for under 50 DH. The back tea room is a heat refuge for the price of a coffee.

32 Rue Bab Agnaou, Medina, Marrakech 40000

Le Tobsil ★ 4.5

Moroccan$$$$Set tasting 650 MADmedinaWed-Mon 19:30-00:00; closed TuesdayBook 1 week ahead

Le Tobsil in Marrakech's R'mila medina runs the canonical Moroccan tasting: 11 to 13 salads, pigeon pastilla, lamb tagine, in a candle-lit Gnaoua-music riad.

Signature: 11 Moroccan salads, Pigeon pastilla, Lamb tagine couscous

Tip: Closed Tuesdays. Set menu only; live Gnaoua music. Pace yourself, the salads alone are dinner.

22 Derb Abdullah Ben Hessaien, R'mila, Marrakech 40000

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