Almond & Cherry Puddles
Hooray it’s February! Gosh, I don’t know about you, but it felt like January went on for a long time. I went for an early morning run in the week and I am noticing the lighter mornings, along with some cracking sunrises - spring is on the way.
This weeks blog is quite a personal one to me, my wonderful step dad would have had his birthday this week, I still can’t believe its nearly 3 years since he died - feels like a lifetime and just a minute, all at the same time. I always baked him something with almond and cherries, one of his favourites. I still like to bake something with almond and cherries in this week, it just feels like a seasonal marker in my life now.
This year I am making almond and cherry puddles; I made them last year in the form of chocolate and salted caramel (worth a try as well, you can find the recipe in my archives)
Almond and Cherry Puddles
120g soft unsalted butter
60g caster sugar
1 large free ranged egg, separated
1/2 tsp almond extract
150g plain flour
100g flaked almonds, chopped
1 jar of cherry preserve
1 pinch of salt
Preheat oven to 180ºC and line a baking tray
Using a mixer, beat together the butter and sugar for 5 minutes or until fluffy and pale. Add the egg yolk and almond extract and beat again.
Sift in the flour and salt and stir through with a wooden spoon just until the mixture comes together as a dough - be careful not to over mix (this will help to keep the biscuit texture light)
Wrap the dough in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Once chilled, divide the dough into 12 even (ish) sized balls, dip a ball into the egg white and then roll in the chopped almonds then place onto the baking sheet. Repeat this with the other 11 balls, spacing them about 3 cm apart on the tray. Gently press your thumb down into the tops of each one to create a dip.
Bake in the oven for 5 minutes, remove and then carefully press the thumb down again as the dip will have risen slightly in the first bake. Spoon in a small dollop of jam into the dips of each biscuit and then bake again in the oven for a further 10 minutes of until lightly golden.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes on the tray, before transferring them to a cooling rack. Please don’t get tempted to eat these until they are cold, as the jam will be VERY hot and will burn your mouth.
These look very dainty and more-ish, even if I do say so myself! They are fun to make as they are very hands on - why not give them a go this weekend!
