Almonds are at the heart of many festive biscuits, sweets and cakes around the world.
These snow-white almond biscuits are made to celebrate Channukah, Advent or Christmas in many Northern European countries. The secret to their ‘more-ishness’ is to
use very fresh nuts and good butter, and to leave them for a day or so after baking for the almond flavours to deepen and become more intense.
Makes 24
Kit you’ll need: 2 baking sheets, lined with baking paper 110g unsalted butter, softened
2–3 drops of pure almond extract 60g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting 85g plain flour
pinch of salt
125g ground almonds
1.
Put the softened butter into a mixing bowl, or the bowl of a free-standing electric mixer. Add the almond extract and beat with a wooden spoon or hand-held electric whisk, or the whisk attachment of the mixer, until creamy.2.
Scrape down the side of the bowl, then sift the icing sugar into the bowl and beat well until the mixture is much paler in colour and very light and fluffy in texture. (If using an electric whisk, or a mixer, start off on the slowest speed and gradually increase once all the sugar has been incorporated.)3.
Sift the flour, salt and ground almonds into the bowl; add any nuts left in the sieve. Mix everything together with a wooden spoon or plastic spatula to make a firm dough.4.
Tip out the dough on to an unfloured worktop. Using a teaspoon measure, scoop up a heaped spoonful of the dough (about 15g) and roll it with your hands on the worktop to a sausage shape about 7.5cm long. Curve this into a crescent, then set it on a lined baking sheet. Continue making crescents with the rest of the dough, setting them slightly apart on the baking sheets to allow for expansion.5.
Cover the crescents lightly with clingfilm and chill for 10 minutes. In the meantime, heat the oven to 170°C/325°F/gas 3.6.
Uncover the crescents and bake in the heated oven for about 15 minutes until they are firm, but still pale with golden tips. Remove the sheets from the oven and dust the crescents with sifted icing sugar. Leave to cool and firm up on the sheets for 5 minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.7.
When cold, store in an airtight container and eat within a week. Dust again with icing sugar just before serving.Variation
As a gift for chocolate lovers you can finish off the biscuits with a chocolate and pistachio decoration. After baking, leave the crescents to cool without dusting with icing sugar. Gently melt* 60g of your favourite dark chocolate. Dip one end of each crescent into the melted chocolate, then place on a sheet of baking paper.
Sprinkle 25g finely chopped pistachios over the chocolate before it sets. Once it has set, dust the other end of each crescent with icing sugar, then gently arrange the crescents in a gift box.
LEBKUCHEN
At the Advent market at Nuremberg, the enticing spicy-sweet scent of Lebkuchen – the famous festive German gingerbread – fills the air and you can find the biscuits in almost any size or shape, plain, glazed or elaborately decorated. The first Lebkuchen, sweetened with honey, were made in Nuremburg in the middle ages. The spicy flavour of the biscuits
will deepen, so they are best eaten a day or two after baking.
Makes 26
Kit you’ll need: 2 baking sheets, lined with baking paper FOR THE DOUGH
225g clear honey
50g dark brown muscovado sugar 85g unsalted butter
grated zest of 1 medium orange
grated zest of 1 medium unwaxed lemon, plus 1 tablespoon juice 50g crystallised ginger, finely chopped
4 teaspoons egg white, at room temperature FOR THE CHOCOLATE GLAZE
50g dark chocolate (about 70% cocoa solids), finely chopped 15g unsalted butter pepper. Pour the melted mixture into the bowl and mix everything together with a wooden spoon to make a heavy and slightly sticky dough. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave on the worktop for an hour to firm up.