Almond pipe spears

(Must be a day in advance): Grind almonds in a food processor powder. Almond powder in metal bowl. Add: 250 g icing sugar, 1 to 2 tbsp water, Cointreau and Metaxa. Mix thoroughly until uniform, cohesive mixture. Almond paste to form ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Leave a day in the refrigerator.

Each time, create 1 tsp almond paste from the ball and form a small pear from it; keep the rest packaged. Put cloves as stalks in pears. Sprinkle pears on clean tea towel and some sugar powder left over. Turn pears halfway. Store in well-fitting box or drum until used.