My Favourite Almond Slices a la "Hobsons the Bakers" in Stockport

Ingredients :

175 g plain flour

15 g icing sugar

pinch of salt

75 g mixture of butter and margarine, or butter only

2-3 tbsp cold water

2-3 tbsp raspberry jam, melted, cooled

125 g icing sugar, sifted

125 g caster sugar

175 g ground almonds

1 Grade 3 egg, beaten

extra white of 1 Grade 3 egg

1/2 tsp each, almonds and vanilla essences

40 g flaked almonds

Method :
For pastry, sift flour, icing sugar and salt into a bowl.
Rub in butter and margarine (or butter only) until mixture looks like a mass of fine breadcrumbs.
Using a fork, mix to a stiff dough with water.
Turn out on to a floured surface and knead lightly until smooth.
Roll out into a 10 by 6" (25 by 15 cm) oblong and transfer to a lightly greased baking tray.
Fork edges to decorate.
Spread pastry base with jam.
For topping, mix both sugars with almonds then bind to a softish paste with egg, egg white and the essences.
Spread over pastry then sprinkle evenly with the flaked almonds.
Bake until golden brown in oven, 375F, Gas 5.
Allow about 25 minutes.
Cut into 12 piece when lukewarm then cool on a wire rack.
Store in an airtight container when completely cold.
Note :

Closely related to Macaroons, these are one of the highlights of an old English style afternoon tea. And nothing beats the homemade version.

Makes 12

Mmmmmmmm I can Just Taste em now