We are still in lockdown it is unlikely that you will be taking Mum out for a Mother’s Day celebration this year but you can still make her day special.
When my children were at home they really loved baking so what about making some almond buttons with lemon preserve in the middle. You could even make some for Granny & leave them on her doorstep if you can’t go round & see her.
This recipe is courtesy of BBC Goodfood & I pinched the idea from one of our lovely customers who used our lemon preserve to make biscuits for her family . This isn’t too complicated for even quite young children to make if there is a grown up around to help.
Perthshire Preserves has some lovely flavoured curds – ginger, passionfruit, orange and mango. I have added some alternatives to the recipe at the bottom of this post including a vegan option.
Almond biscuits with lemon preserve. (makes about 20)
Equipment. A large mixing bowl, mixer (or wooden spoon), a pastry cutter & 2 baking trays.
1 packet of salted butter (left out of the fridge to soften)
140g golden caster sugar (or white granulated if you haven’t got caster sugar)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract (leave this out if you haven’t got it)
Zest 2 lemons
300g plain flour
100 ground almonds
Milk
Jar of lemon preserve
Flaked almonds
Beat butter, sugar, egg, vanilla & lemon zest in a bowl until smooth. Fold in the flour and almonds. To make sure it is all mixed use you hands to kneed it lightly. Cut it in half & shape into 2 rounds. Wrap it in cling film (or a waxed wrap) & chill for about 30 mins. Put the oven on at 170l fan or 190 (gas 5 if you have a gas oven)
Roll out 1 piece of dough thinly (about the thickness of a £1 coin) on a floured board/bench. Cut into rounds with a 7cm cutter (or use a glass if you haven’t a cutter). Brush with the milk a put a blob of lemon preserve in the middle. (squash the off cuts back together & re-roll) Roll out the other half & cut again placing the rounds on top of the first batch. Gentley squidge the edges together to seal. Scatter some more sugar on top & flaked almonds. Bake for 15 mins until golden in colour & smelling delicious. Leave on the tray for a few minutes to harden off before lifting on to a cooling rack to go cold.
Other options
If using orange curd use the zest of an orange instead.
If using passionfruit curd zest 2 limes (use the juice for margaritas!)
Use lemon zest for the ginger curd & add some crystalised ginger chopped up really small.
Vegan option – use margarine instead of the butter and 60g silken tofu instead of the egg. The curds aren’t vegan but all our jams are – raspberry jam is great.
You can freeze the biscuits before baking and can be baked from frozen – add 5 minutes to the cooking time.