Frangipane Tart

This particular tart always goes down well! Warm with a scoop of ice-cream or custard, or cold with cream or even better, a clotted cream, this is a great dessert or afternoon delight!

For the sweet pastry case

300g plain flour

150g unsalted butter, cubed and chilled

60g icing sugar

2 medium egg yolks beaten

For the frangipane topping

110g unsalted butter

110g caster sugar

2 medium eggs beaten

80g ground almonds

30g plain flour

a handful of flaked almonds - how much is really up to how much you like almonds! I like lots so add lots!

Prepare the pastry case

1. Gently rub the butter into the flour using your finger tips
2. Stir in the sugar
3. Add the eggs and use an ordinary knife to cut in the eggs
4. Bring the dough together to form a ball. This is a very sticky dough -don’t worry
5. Chill the pastry for an hour so that the dough is easier to work with
6. Once the pastry has chilled, roll it out between a sheet of greaseproof paper on the bottom and cling film on the top. Try not to handle the dough too much
7. Line either a 23cm fluted, loose bottom round tin or a rectangular tin around 30cm x 15cm with the pastry, cutting off any excess, and then chill again for another 15-20 minutes
8. Use a fork to mark the base

Cover the pastry case base with the filling of your choice - jam, fruit compote, fruit curd. I like a spiced plum jam or rhubarb and ginger compote, although Jo’s mum’s raspberry and tayberry jam is fantastic!

Pre-heat the oven to Gas 3/ 170 and place a baking sheet on the middle shelf.

Make the frangipane topping

1. Put all the ingredients into a large bowl
2. Use a handmixer to bring the ingredients together until they are light and fluffy
3. Use a palette knife to spread over the jam
4. Sprinkle over the flaked almonds

Place the tart tin on the pre-heated baking sheet - this will help avoid a soggy bottom - and bake for 30-40 minutes until golden. Let the tart cool in the tin for 15 minutes.

If you want to, you can drizzle 50g of icing sugar mixed with water until a pouring consistency over the tart.

Fat Free Biscotti

Fat Free Biscotti

Makes 20-24

Ingredients

2 medium eggs

100g caster sugar

250g plain flour plus a little extra for dusting

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Filling ideas

zest of 1 orange

25g toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped

25g chocolate chips

The last three can be changed for the filling of choice e.g. macadamia and cranberry or any mix of nuts and dried fruit. Swap 50g of the flour for cocoa powder to make chocolate biscotti. For the mocha ones shown here, I used 45g of cocoa powder and 4 tsp of espresso powder and then 50g of roasted and chopped hazelnuts.

1. Heat the oven to Gas 4/ 180C
2. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment
3. whisk the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy
4. sift the flour and bicarb into a bowl and add the zest, nuts and chocolate chips
5. fold into the egg mix to make quite a soft dough
6. tip onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a 25cm sausage then transfer to a baking tray and flatten to a 3cm thickness
7. bake for 30 minutes until golden brown
8. remove from the tray onto a board and reduce the oven to Gas 3/160C
9. cut the log into 1cm thick slices and return to the sheet with the cut side up
10. bake for another 10-15 minutes until crisp

These should last for 3 weeks if stored in an air tight container.

Gluten free flour, such as Doves Farm, works just as well, but can be a little crumbly. I found it was best to slice the 'sausage' straight from the oven before it had the chance to go hard!