CHEWY ALMOND BISCUITS

OMGosh, I'm addicted to these biscuits, I made them for friends as a gift when we went for dinner and now I can't stop making them. I have a feeling that everyone will be getting a parcel of these from me this christmas.

Because they are made with just almonds, icing sugar and egg white they have a light crisp outer shell and a soft chewy middle a bit like a macaron, what's not to like?  As they are so irresistible this batch makes quite a lot but why mess about, lets face it they'll get eaten before you can give them away.

Give them a go and you too will be making small hampers of them as gifts this year.

Makes 30


300g Icing Sugar
230g Ground Almonds
2 Egg Whites
1 tsp Almond Extract
100g Flaked Almonds
Icing Sugar to Dust







In a bowl combine the icing sugar, ground almonds, egg whites and almond extract.  I use my free standing mixer.  It will come together into a thick paste.

Scoop out a large teaspoon of the mix and roll in your palm to form a ball, about the size of a walnut. Now role the the ball in the flaked almonds and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment.  Repeat until you have used all the mixture.  I found it easier to make all the balls then role them in the almonds as you get a but sticky.  Give them enough room on the parchment to spread a little.

Once they are all made, give them a liberal dustin with icing sugar and bake for 15 minutes at 160C Fan.  Dust again with icing sugar and leave to cool a little on the baking tray before transferring to a cooling rack.  try to resist having one straight away, ok, maybe just one :)

CHRISTMAS BREAD PUDDING

I must confess that as a child, if we were ever fortunate enough to have the opportunity to select a cake from the cake shop, I would quite often opt for the bread pudding.  Mainly because it appeared to be the largest cake available.  I realise now that it was probably a great money spinner for the bakers giving them a new lease of life for the unsold stale bread.

Bread pudding is a proper comfort food with its warming spices and stodgy texture and perfect for this time of year.  I made some after our halloween party when we had lots of hotdog rolls left over and it reminded me of christmas pudding so I thought I'd take it a step further and give it a bit more yule tide pimping.  So here we have my christmas bread pudding which we ate warm with cream and custard. I think it tastes like christmas but a lot quicker to make than the usual pudding.

1 Litre Milk
130g Sugar
300g Dried Cranberries
200g Sultanas
75g Butter
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Mixed Spice
Zest of 1 Orange
1 tsp Orange Extract
700g Bread (made into bread crumbs)
2 Eggs
2 tbsp Demerara Sugar
40g Flaked Almonds
2 tbsp Granulated Sugar


Butter a large baking dish (30cm x 20cm).  Heat the oven to 160C fan

Warm the milk in a large pan with the sugar, cranberries, sultanas, butter, cinnamon, mixed spice, orange zest and extract.  Heat till the buyer has melted then pour in the bread crumbs and stir till combined.  Now mix in the eggs.

Tip the mixture into the baking dish and gently spread it out evenly.  Don't squash it, you want a rough top with texture.  Scatter the flaked almonds and Demerara sugar on top and cover the whole dish in foil.  Bake for 40 minutes then remove the foil and give it another 15 minutes uncovered.  Remove from the oven and sprinkle immediately with granulated sugar.