The name may sound weird, but comparing these crescents to Tcharek Msaker, it just means that these crescents don’t have a glaze or powdered sugar.
Tcharek Al Arian is one of the Algerian traditional crescent cookies that are present in so many occasions such as Eid Al fitr (end of the holy month of Ramadan).
There is a variety of the Algerian crescents or Tcharek such as Tcharek Msaker, Tcharak M’aassel and Tcharek Nekkache.
Tcharek Al Arian is not very sweet and it melts in mouth.
Algerian Almond Filled Crescent Cookies called Tcharek Al Arian
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla powder (optional)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- Orange blossom water as needed
Filling
- 1 and 1/2 cups ground almonds
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder( optional)
- Orange blossom water as needed
Garnish
- 1 egg white or 1 egg yolk or a whole beaten egg
- About 1 cup coarsely ground Almonds
Instructions
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Sift the flour, vanilla powder, salt and powdered sugar.
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Add butter and mix with your hands until the butter is well incorporated.
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Add the beaten egg with a pinch of salt. Mix well.
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Add orange blossom water one tablespoon at the time and mix by hands until you obtain a soft dough (the flour will absorb the liquid). Don’t knead the dough, you just gather it.
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Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rest for at least 20 minutes on the counter.
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Prepare the filling by mixing the ground almonds, sugar, vanilla powder, cinnamon and butter.
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Add orange blossom water, 1 teaspoon at the time until obtain a well gathered paste.
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Get back to the dough (after rest time) and form small balls, the size of small tangerines. You can use kitchen scale to weight the balls of dough.
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Cover the balls of dough with plastic wrap.
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Take one ball of dough at the time and roll it out thinly into a circle or oval shape.
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Roll a small amount of almond filling into a thin log.
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Place it in one edge of the rolled out dough.
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Roll the dough over the filling to make a log.
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Using your 2 hands, roll the log from the sides to make them thinner than the center.
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Form a crescent shape cookie dough.
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Continue forming the crescent shape cookies or Tcharek until you deplete all the dough.
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Brush the top of the crescent with beaten egg white. You can brush them with egg yolk or the whole beaten egg if you like.
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Dip the top of the crescent in coarsely ground Almonds.
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Place in a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
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Prick the crescents or Tcharek with a toothpick in the bottom.
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Bake in a 350°F preheated oven for about 15 to 20 minutes or until slightly golden from the bottom.
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Enjoy.
Recipe Notes
- You can make these crescent cookies with peanuts instead of almonds.
- You can garnish the crescent cookies with sliced almonds instead of coarsely ground almonds.
- You can brush these cookies with egg yolk or the whole beaten egg if you like.
- Note that this recipe has baking powder, if you like small crescents then just shape them smaller as they will rise a little bit during baking.
- The total time in this recipe didn’t include the resting time of the dough.