Unless I am being super duper productive next week, this will be my last post before Christmas. So I want to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas from the Falkland Islands. We have just begun our Christmas/summer holidays and the whole family, including my teacher husband, is looking forward to not having to get up early and sort stuff for school! Although that said, I hit the gym early this morning trying to compensate for all the treats I have eaten in the run up to Christmas…
I have fond memories of tins of Amaretti biscuits at Christmas time as a kid and being allowed one or maybe two if I was lucky. The excitement of choosing which coloured wrapper I wanted and gently unwrapping it to reveal the delicious almond biscuit which was always savoured. I never wanted to throw the wrappers away either as they were so elegant and reminded me of yummy Christmas treats. I always felt very grown up being allowed to share in what felt like a very indulgent Christmastime ritual under the watchful eyes of my dad, who wanted to ensure I took no more than I had been allowed. I don’t think he was very good at sharing what he considered to be his food. My sweet tooth certainly came from him!
This year, I decided that it would be fun to recreate them with the kids in the kitchen, but without the alcohol. It was a hands on activity which kept all three children amused. With the set up of our kitchen in Stanley, it isn’t always particularly easy to give everyone space to have a go, but this time around the kids managed to share a couple of chairs and leave room for me to instruct from the side lines. We did make ours somewhat larger than shop bought ones, but it did make them less fiddly for small hands to roll into balls and then coat in icing sugar without squishing them into a pulp! These a naturally gluten free as they contain no flour and with the ground almonds they make me feel like they are a bit healthier.
Ingredients
- 2 egg whites
- 175g caster sugar
- 175g ground almonds
- 1tbsp almond extract
- Icing sugar for dusting
Method
- Preheat oven to 160°c fan and line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment.
- Whisk the egg whites with hand mixer until stiff peaks form.
- Gently mix in the caster sugar and ground almonds with a metal spoon and then bring together with your hands.
- Make tablespoon-sized balls for big biscuits or teaspoon-sized balls for smaller biscuits.
- With damp hands, roll each ball in a plate of icing sugar to coat and place on baking sheets ensuring that you space them apart.
- Cook for 15-20 minutes until they are a light golden colour and slightly puffy.
- Leave to cool on the baking trays for around 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
These are totally yummy biscuits and I will probably be making these outside the festive season too! But that is probably because I love biscuits, but I hate the pressure of trying to decorate them nicely as I am not the most artistic of people!
