Essaouira Dessert Workshop - Coastal Sweets, Amlou & Almonds

Essaouira, the whitewashed port on the Atlantic, has a sweet tooth shaped by its setting between the ocean and the argan forests. This dessert workshop teaches the Moroccan classics with a local, coastal accent - above all the region's own amlou - in the relaxed, artistic atmosphere the town is loved for, a gentler and more scenic sweets session than in the big cities.

You make the Moroccan favourites: kaab el ghazal, the crescent gazelle horns filled with orange-blossom almond paste, and ghriba, the crumbly almond shortbreads, learning the almond paste, honey and orange-blossom that underpin Moroccan sweets. The distinctive local element is amlou - the rich spread of argan oil, roasted almonds and honey, often called Moroccan Nutella - which the region around Essaouira produces from its argan trees, and which you make and taste on fresh bread.

Set in this unhurried seaside town, often on a rooftop with the Atlantic wind, the workshop is as relaxed as Essaouira itself, and pairs beautifully with an argan cooperative visit on the surrounding plains. You box up the sweets to take away and finish over mint tea. It leaves you with a repertoire of Moroccan desserts plus the local amlou, and an appreciation of how the argan country flavours the town's sweet table.