Ingredients
| ALMOND & CARDAMOM BISCUITS makes 18 - 20 / preparation 15 mins / cooking 12 mins | |
| 2 eggs, separated | |
| 60g raw sugar | |
| ¼ teaspoon almond or vanilla essence | |
| 40g ground almonds, plus about 10g extra to sprinkle | |
| ½ teaspoon ground cardamom | |
| 1 tablespoon icing sugar | |
| APRICOT, ORANGE & ALMOND CLOUDS | |
| zest and juice of 1 orange | |
| 150ml orange juice | |
| ¼ cup sugar | |
| 1 vanilla pod, split | |
| 9 apricots, halved, stones removed | |
| ½ teaspoon orange flower water (optional) | |
| 300ml cream | |
| 70g (½ cup) slivered almonds, toasted | |
| 18 almond & cardamom biscuits (see recipe) |
Tui was a huge influence on the New Zealand food scene and she was Mum’s friend and old colleague at the Women’s Weekly. To be honest, she scared the living daylights out of me, as I always felt I fell short of her very exacting standards. Scary as she was to a young food writer, her education in home science and her work ethic paved the way for higher standards in recipe writing. In one of Mum’s handwritten books there is a very scrappy recipe which she got from Tui, for something called ‘Turkish Clouds’, essentially biscuits soaked in plain syrup topped with almonds and an almond and rose-scented whipped cream. Here I have made my own cardamom and ground almond biscuits (Tui would approve!) and added poached apricots with an orange-scented syrup.
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Instructions
| 1. | ALMOND & CARDAMOM BISCUITS |
| 2. | Heat the oven to 180°C. |
| 3. | Line two baking trays with baking paper and sprinkle with the extra ground almonds (this helps the biscuits from sticking because greasing the tray would make them spread too much). |
| 4. | Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and set aside. |
| 5. | Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and essence together until thick, light and creamy – this will take about 5 minutes in an electric beater, scraping down the sides a couple of times to ensure you dissolve all the sugar into the egg. |
| 6. | Spoon 2 tablespoons of the egg white into the egg yolk/sugar mixture and carefully fold through to loosen. |
| 7. | Sprinkle over the 40g ground almonds and the cardamom and fold through with the remaining egg white. |
| 8. | Spoon tablespoons of the mixture onto the baking sheets, spaced a little apart. |
| 9. | Sift over a little icing sugar and bake for 10-12 minutes until golden. |
| 10. | Cool on the paper then carefully slide a fish slice underneath to lift onto a cooling rack. |
| 11. | You can use the biscuits for this recipe as they are but if you would like to crisp up a few for garnish, turn the oven off and when it has cooled a little, place the biscuits back in the oven on the cooking rack and leave until completely cool then store in an airtight container for up to five days. |
| 12. | APRICOT, ORANGE & ALMOND CLOUDS |
| 13. | Put the squeezed juice from the orange in a measuring jug with the 150ml orange juice and make up to 375ml with water. |
| 14. | Put this in a medium saucepan with the orange zest, sugar and vanilla. |
| 15. | Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. |
| 16. | Add the apricots and orange flower water, if using, and remove from the heat. |
| 17. | Cool in the liquid and refrigerate for up to 1 day. |
| 18. | Whip the cream with 1 tablespoon poaching juice and stir through half the toasted almonds. |
| 19. | Put one biscuit in the bottom of six individual bowls (or you can make one large bowl) and spoon over a little apricot poaching syrup and a tablespoon of cream. |
| 20. | Arrange three apricot halves in each dish. |
| 21. | Add another biscuit, more syrup and a big tablespoon of cream, then top with a third biscuit and scatter with the remaining almonds. |
Recipes & food styling Fiona Smith / Photography Aaron McLean / Styling Fiona Lascelles