Almond Fingers

Last week mentioned my new book Ladies A Plate. While it contains a lot of recipes I remember, some of them are new to me. This is one of those recipes – almond fingers. I made these as another tin filler when my in laws came. My mother in law said that she used to make these regularly and both in-laws loved them, as did my husband and I.

The way of making these is a bit unusual in that you make an almond shortbread base, cover it with the topping (a basic meringue with flaked almonds scattered over the top) and then slice into fingers and bake. If I hadn’t had a method to follow, I would have cut the base into fingers and then spread on the topping – I actually might do that next time as it was cut messy cutting the merningued tops.

I love the old fashionedness of these biscuits. I actually stored them in a tin as opposed to a Tupperware container, as I could just imagine my Nana making them and keeping them in a tin. I bet she would have loved them! Next time I make them I am going to take my time (which will be a new experience for me!!) and try and cut them into neater fingers. When I made these ones, I had had a couple of glasses of wine and it was getting late in the evening! I cant wait to try some other recipes from this book – next on the list is afghans which I have never been very good at making!



Almond Fingers (from Ladies A Plate)

115g flour
¼ tsp baking powder
55g butter
115g sugar
35g ground almonds
1 egg, separated
¼ tsp almond essence
60g icing sugar
40 g flaked almonds

· Combine flour and baking powder and rub in butter
· Stir in sugar, ground almonds, egg yolk and almond essence to make a soft dough
· Chill for 30 minutes then roll out into a rectangle about 30x20cm
· In the meantime, beat the egg white until stiff peaks form, then beat in icing sugar to make a glossy meringue
· Spread the meringue over the base and sprinkle with flaked almonds.
Leave to set for an hour, then cut into fingers and bake at 180c for 20-25 minutes