BAKEWELL BICCIES

 

My signature bake is my Bakewell tart. It always gets requested by my friends and family and has won me prizes in many a competition. So inspired by week two of the Great British Bake Off 2014 I've gone all biscuity on myself and transformed my fabulous tart into some equally delicious biscuits. All the great taste of that tart but with less fuss and in bite sized pieces. What's not to like!

The only note for this recipe is that I use a splash of Amaretto in my biscuits as I would with my tart. I think it's the booze that gets the thumbs up so it can't be left out (Mary Berry would love it I'm sure!). However if you don't have a bottle of Amaretto in your house use a tsp of almond extract for that punchy almond taste instead.

Waiting are we waiting for? Let's get baking!

Bakewell Biccies

125g Soft Butter
250g Golden Caster Sugar
125g Soft Brown Sugar
4 Tbsp Amaretto
1 Whole Egg
150g Self Raising Flour
125g Ground Almonds
100g Chopped Glace Cherries
Hand full Flaked Almonds
100g Icing Sugar

1. In a bowl, chuck in the butter, both sugars and 1 tbsp of the Amaretto and give everything a good beating until well combined before adding the egg and beating further until the egg is fully combined into the mix.
2. Next add in the flour, ground almonds and cherries and and everything until well combined into a sticky dough.
3. At this point, line three baking trays with baking paper and turn you oven on to 160 degrees (140 fan).
4. Take the dough and with dry hands dusted with flour, roll thedough into balls of roughly 55g in weight (this should get you about 16 cookies) and space out on the baking trays around 2cm apart.
5. Flatten the tops of each ball to make them more cookie shaped and sprinkle a few flaked almonds over the top of each one. Place in the oven and bake for 35 minutes.
6. Remove from the oven and leave for ten minutes for the cookies to firm up before transferring onto a wire rack.
7. Once fully cooled, mix together the icing sugar and the remaining Amaretto to make a runny icing and drizzle over all the cookies to decorate.

If you are forgoing the Amaretto then you can use lemon juice in your icing instead for a nice fresh citrusy burst to cut through the almondy biscuit flavor.

Grab yourself a big mug of tea and a plate of these deliciously soft and chewy biscuits and get dunking. Is there any better way to enjoy a brew on a lazy weekend? I really can't think of anything!