Disclaimer: No monkeys, stuffed or otherwise, were hurt, or even involved in the making of this week’s recipe.  Stuffed Monkey is actually a Jewish pastry.  With a totally kooky, and kind of revolting,  name.  Which is, of course,  why I had to make it!

And I’m so glad I did because Stuffed Monkey is delicious!  The pastry is like a cinnamony shortbread and the filling is slightly fudgy, a bit like a brownie. It’s so good!

Now, the original recipe for Stuffed Monkey, direct from the pages of Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery, had candied orange peel as the fruit in the filling.  I’m not a big fan of candied peel at the best of times and, certainly not in the quantities required to make this.  So I subbed in some dried sour cherries and some dried apricots for my version.  I did add some orange zest as well so there was a hint of orange in my recipe as a small nod and a wink to the original.

So, why the odd and not appetising at all name?  I found a couple of theories on the old interwebs…the first is that “monkey”  is a corruption of the Arabic word “makhshi” which means stuffed.  So this would then become a Stuffed Stuffed?  The other theory I found is that these were first popularised by a family called the Monnickendams.

I’m not sure I’m entirely convinced by either of these but what do I know?

Here’s the recipe direct from Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery:

And here is my version with the cherries and apricots.

Stuffed Monkey

Print Recipe

A delicious baked dessert

• Author: Taryn Fryer

Ingredients

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For The Pastry

• 170g butter
• 227g plain flour
• 170g caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 1 egg, beaten

For The Filling

• 80g dried sour cherries, chopped
• 80g dried apricots, chopped
• 60g slivered almonds
• zest of an orange
• 227g ground almonds
• 85g butter
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• Pinch of salt
• 1 egg white

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Instructions

For The Pastry

1. Rub the butter into the flour.
2. Add the sugar, cinnamon and salt.
3. Add the egg. Combine until the mixture becomes a smooth dough.
4. Divide in two equal pieces.
5. Roll the first piece out and use it to line a pie dish.

For The Filling

1. Beat the butter, ground almonds and egg yolks together.
2. Add the dried fruit, nuts and vanilla and salt.
3. Stir to combine.
4. Spread the filling over the dough in the pie dish.
5. Roll out the second piece of pastry and cover the filling with it.
6. Press the edges to seal them.
7. Brush with the egg white to glaze.
8. Heat the oven to 180C.
9. Place the pie pan in the oven and bake for around 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Notes

• This is great on its own but is fabulous with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

There is a downside to making a dessert called a Stuffed Monkey.

Which is that no one wants to eat it.  The minute you mention the name, they get a funny look on their faces.  Then they ask you to repeat what you said.  Then they say “It’s okay, I think I might just have coffee”.

So just tell your friends it’s called Sour Cherry Tart or something.   They’ll be shovelling it down like nobody’s business and asking for seconds in no time at all!

Or tell them the name and keep it all for yourself.  It’s that good!  

Have a great week!