Orange and Almond Cookies

I have been trying to expand my biscuit repertoire for some time, instead of always making Chocolate Chip Cookies! 

I had some flaked almonds left over from making a bakewell tart but I wasn't sure what flavour to put them with in a biscuit. After a bit of pondering, I decided orange would be a good match, as long as it wasn't too sharp. I used orange curd to get a more mellow flavour and it was a lovely combination, just enough orange flavour without drowning out the almonds. Plus, orange is just a little bit Christmassy, so Orange and Almond Cookies are lovely for this time of year.

These are the soft, chewy cookie type of biscuit but you do get a bit of crunch from the almond flakes. If you wanted even more crunch, you could use whole almonds chopped up instead.

Make Orange and Almond Cookies

For a printable version of this recipe, click here: Orange and Almond Cookies

Ingredients
(makes 12 large, or 20 small cookies)

100g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
100g light muscavado sugar
200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 tbsp orange curd
50g flaked almonds

Method

1) Cream the butter and sugar until smooth.
2)  Beat in the egg and the orange curd.
3) Sieve in the flour, baking powder and mix until you have a cookie dough.
4) Mix in the almonds, but don't over mix. They will break, but that's no problem.
5)  Put greaseproof paper on a cookie sheet or grease the cookie sheet really well.
6) Spoon balls of cookie dough onto the sheet with a tablespoon. Leave large gaps between them, as they will spread quite far when cooking. I wouldn't do more than 5-6 at a time.
7) Cook for 10-12 mins at 180 (170 fan), Gas mark 4. They should be  soft in the middle and crunchy at the edges when done.
8) Leave them to cool for a couple of minutes or they will wrinkle when you try to remove them. Then use a spatula to gently lift them and put them on a cooling rack.