Azerbaijani almond-filled crescent pastries (Şəkərbura)

1. Warm the milk until lukewarm and stir in the yeast; put the flour and salt in a bowl, add the yeast milk, egg and melted butter and knead into a smooth, soft dough; cover and leave to rise for 1 hour.

2. For the filling, lightly toast the almonds in a dry frying pan, cool and grind finely in a food processor; mix with the icing sugar and ground cardamom.

3. Divide the dough into 16 balls and roll each into a thin disc of about 10 cm; put a heaped tablespoon of filling in the centre, fold into a half-moon and press the edges together firmly.

4. Crimp the seam with your fingertips into a wavy, braid-like edge, then pinch a characteristic herringbone pattern on top of each pastry with tweezers (or a fork).

5. Place the pastries on a lined baking tray and bake in an oven preheated to 180 °C for 20-25 minutes until pale golden – they shouldn't brown.

6. Serve cooled with tea – one of the three sweets of the Novruz festival (pakhlava, shakarbura, shorgogal), symbolising the moon.

Tip: The pinched pattern is the şəkərbura's decoration; instead of special tongs (maggash), clean eyebrow tweezers will do. You can also make it with walnuts instead of almonds.