Marrakech Pastilla & Pastry Workshop

Morocco's pastry tradition is one of the most sophisticated and least understood in the world, and this intimate two-and-a-half-hour workshop in Marrakech lifts the veil on centuries of sweet artistry. Your instructor is a master patissier trained in the royal pastry kitchens, where the art of hand-stretching ouarka -- the gossamer-thin pastry leaves that are the foundation of Moroccan baking -- has been elevated to a near-sacred craft. You begin by learning to stretch ouarka on a hot copper dome, an ancient technique that produces pastry sheets so thin they are nearly transparent. Using your freshly made leaves, you assemble a classic bastilla: layer upon layer of pigeon or chicken, toasted almonds, egg custard, cinnamon, and icing sugar, wrapped in a golden parcel and baked until shatteringly crisp. The workshop then moves to two beloved Moroccan treats: chebakia, the intricately shaped sesame cookies deep-fried and soaked in warm honey and orange blossom water that are traditionally served during Ramadan; and briouat, delicate triangular pastries filled with almond paste and perfumed with rose water. Your patissier shares the cultural stories behind each creation -- how bastilla arrived with Andalusian refugees, how chebakia symbolises generosity during the holy month. You leave with a box of your own creations and the confidence to recreate these masterpieces at home.