January 2012 - Almond Fingers

Great Bake Club today thanks ladies! Thanks heaps for hosting Julie :)

This is from Alexa Johnston's Ladies, A Plate - Traditional Home Baking.

Ingredients
115g flour
1/4 t baking powder
pinch salt
55g butter
115g sugar
35g ground almonds
1 egg, separated
1/4 t almond essence
60g icing sugar
40g chopped/slivered/flaked almonds

Method

1. Sift the flour, bakingpowder and salt into a bowl and rub in the butter until it is well incorporated.
2. Add the sugar and ground almonds and mix to a stiff paste with the egg yolk and 1-2 tsp of cold water if necessary. If you liek the favour of allmond essence, add about 1/4 tsp with the egg yolk.
   
3. Make the paste into a rectangle, wrap in waxed paper and chill for about 10 minutes. Roll out on a floured board to a rectange about 6mm thick. (I lined a cake tin with baking paper, and pressed the paste out into the bottom of that instead of rolling it, then lifted the baking paper out and put it flat on a baking sheet.)
4. Beat the egg white until stiff and then beat in the sifted icing sugar in spoonfuls to make a spreadable meringue. Dollop it onto the biscuit base and spread it out thinly to cover the whole surface - a small palette knkife is good for this. Sprinkle evenly with the additional almonds. Now a tip from Lois Daish: Leave the whole thing on the bench for an hour. The surface will dry a little and make cutting less of a sticky job.
   
5. Turn on the oven and preheat to 180C.
6. Use a sharp knife to cut the mixture into fingers, wiping the knife blade between each cut, then carefully lift the biscuits with a palette knife onto the prepared baking tray. Leave small gaps between them.
   
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating the tray after 10 minutes. The meringue will be pale gold, the almonds slightly toasted and the almond pastry nicely browned underneath.
8. Cool on a wire rack and store airtight. Makes about 32.