Kaber Ellouz are almond balls from Tunisia. They are made by braiding together 3 pieces of almond dough- one plain, one dyed red, and one dyed green. I used the beet food coloring I posted yesterday for the red dough. I attempted to make green food coloring, but it did not work out so I used store-bought. The braided almond dough is formed into balls and each is rolled in superfine sugar. These were a very easy, no bake dessert. In Tunisia, they are popular for special occasions.
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You can make vanilla sugar at home and it is also available in many supermarkets. If you are unable to find it, substitute by adding 2 teaspoons superfine sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract when making the syrup.
The original recipe called for ground almonds. I used pre-made almond meal. You can use almonds and grind them yourself, but they need to be fine and not too oily to make a smooth dough.
Kaber Ellouz (Tunisian Almond Balls)
Adapted from Culina Mediterranea
Kaber Ellouz (Tunisian Almond Balls)
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup superfine (caster) sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
- 7 tablespoons water
- 4 teaspoons rosewater
- 2 1/2 cups almond meal
- 1/2 teaspoon red food color
- 1/2 teaspoon green food color
Garnish:
- Superfine sugar
- Pine nuts
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, combine sugar and vanilla sugar. Stir in the water and heat over medium. Cook, whisking occasionally, until all sugar is dissolved, about 10 minutes. Whisk in the rosewater.
- Place almond meal in a medium bowl. Use a wooden spoon to stir in syrup. Once dough has come together, knead on work surface lightly dusted with almond meal until smooth.
- Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces. To one piece, knead in red food coloring. Knead in green to another piece. Leave the third piece plain.
- Roll each piece into a 3/4 inch wide rope. Place the ropes side by side and braid together. Push the braid together to seal and cut into about 1 inch long pieces. Roll each piece into a ball.
- On a plate, sprinkle some superfine sugar. Roll each ball in the sugar and place on serving plate. Sprinkle with pine nuts, if using, and serve.
Gina
Thanks For the recipe.Hello from Italy
Sophia
Thankyou!! I needed this for a French Project!! I know it’s like whaaat??? A project?? But I had to bring a side dish along with a presentation of Tunisia. Thankyou thankyou!!
Tara
Glad you like it!
jasmine
OMG! Me too! But I have to present Tunisian desserts not actually bring them into class.
Tami Harbin
It was way too wet for me, so if you are reading this before you make them, please stir in a little liquid at a time, just until you get a good dough! Don’t suffer like me! I had to add do much normal flour because I used up all my almond! :). In the end it was fine.