Orange & Almond Biscuits

My baking skills aren't particularly great. I'm not a huge fan of desserts and this shows as I don't appear to have a natural flair for it.

I recently picked up some rose water from a Persian shop, wanting to experiment with it more. Originally I wanted to make some sort of jelly and with a half-price punnet of strawberries, I simmered them down to a puree, mixed it with some maple sugar I had, and then used agar agar flakes to make it set into a jelly. It was a bit of a disaster - the maple sugar was extremely overwhelming, and I didn't simmer the agar agar enough to dissolve it. Lumpy jelly is not good.

So, rather than rectify my mistakes, I decided to change angle. Out with the jelly and in with biscuits; this time Amaretti biscuits with rose and orange. Typically, nothing went well. I didn't realise that supermarkets weren't open on Easter Sunday, so I did away with the Amaretto and used just rose water for the liquid. Unfortunately, the rose water wasn't powerful enough to shine through the orange. Perhaps next time less orange is needed, or maybe using rose oil rather than water would help.

However, on their own right, these were delicious biscuits, especially to have with tea or coffee. They're fluffy and sweet, with the freshness of orange to lighten it.

Orange & Almond Biscuits

Makes about 15

120gr ground almonds

110gr caster sugar

2 egg whites

20ml rosewater

1 tsp orange zest

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff. Add the almonds, sugar and the rosewater and mix to a paste. Add the zest and mix to incorporate.

Grease a baking tray and line with baking parchment. Add the mixture in small blobs with a teaspoon, leaving a couple inches space around each. I did the biscuits in two batches. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until golden. Leave to cool and store in an airtight container.