Festive Food Maths
THIS WEEK’S SUPERMARKET: All ingredients can be bought at Ocado
HERO INGREDIENT: Whitworth ground almonds
1. Ridiculously Easy Amaretti Biscuits
INGREDIENTS
- 4 egg whites from Two Chicks Free Range egg whites
- 350g of Whitworth ground almonds
- 350g of Tate & Lyle Fairtrade caster sugar
- 3 tbsp of Disaronno amaretto
METHOD
Preheat the oven to approximately 180°C. Grease a large flat baking sheet or two. Line with greaseproof paper.
In a very clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until firm. Gently fold the whites in with the sugar, ground almonds and amaretto. Now use a piping bag or a teaspoon to place 2cm wide dollops of the mixture onto the trays. Keep an even space between them to allow them to expand in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Leave to cool. For a festive touch, shake some icing sugar over the biscuits once cooled. Remove and pop in an airtight tin. Give as a gift to friends or simply devour!
2. Festive Clementine Cake with Chocolate (Gluten-Free)
INGREDIENTS
- 4 seedless clementines from Orchard World Seedless Peeler box
- 6 large eggs, beaten
- 300g of Tate & Lyle caster sugar
- 280g of Whitworth ground almonds
- 1 tsp of baking powder
- 300ml of Nature's Store Gluten Free & Dairy Free Squeezy Chocolate & Hazelnut Spread bottle or Dr. Oetker Easy Swirl Chocolate Cupcake Icing
METHOD
For the sponge:
Preheat the oven to between 180°C and 190°C. Cover your seedless clementines with water and microwave until the fruit is soft and ready for blending. Alternatively, simmer them in water for about 30 minutes. Drain. Puree in the blender. Now mix them with the sugar, ground almonds and baking powder, and whisk in the eggs. Grease a 23-24cm springform tin. Spoon the mixture in. Bake and check if it’s cooked after 45 minutes. Remove and cool on a rack.
For the chocolate icing:
You can make a ganache from butter and chocolate melted very gently in a pan or bain marie. But a great cheat is using a bottle of spread or pre-made cupcake icing. Hold the bottle at the top edge of the cake and release the pressure when the mixture begins to drip out, before making a circular pattern around the top of the cake. If the mood strikes you, try going up and down the width and the length of the cake to make a criss-cross pattern.
3. Cheater’s Frangipane Tarts
INGREDIENTS
- Jus-rol puff pastry, rolled out
- 1 jar of Bonne Maman fig conserve or Mirabelle plum
For the frangipane (almond cream):
- 100g of Whitworth ground almonds
- 100g of Baroness raw cane vanilla sugar or Tate & Lyle Fairtrade caster sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 100g of butter (softened in microwave for 30-40 seconds)
METHOD
For the frangipane: In a food processor, beat together the butter and sugar, then eggs and fold in the ground almonds. Pour in a small drizzle of amaretto if you have some handy.
For the tarts:
Grease two 12-hole non-stick cake tins. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until 3mm thick, cut into circles with a 7cm or 8cm round plain cutter and place gently into each tin hole. Spread the Bonne Maman jam as the bottom layer of each tart. Top each one with the frangipane mix. Sprinkle over flaked almonds if you wish. Bake for 30 minutes until cooked.
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