Pain d'Amandes biscuits

From David Lebovitz. I heard about Flo Braker from David Lebovitz' blog, and I’ve been baking a pick of her recipes. This one makes a slim, crunchy almond biscuit, shaped like some commercial ones you can get in the supermarkets.

My batch made about 70 biscuits, but Flo reckons on 80-90. This is a lot.

  • 115g butter
  • 300g demarara sugar (David cites turbinado for Americans)
  • 1.5 tsp cinnamon
  • 80 ml water
  • 325g plain flour
  • 0.25 tsp baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
  • 85g sliced/slivered almonds

Melt the butter on low with the sugar, cinnamon and water. The aim is to dissolve as little of the sugar as possible; I did it the traditional way altogether in a saucepan, but a microwave might work better, or just melt the butter first and let it cool a little before adding the rest.

Stir in the flour, baking soda and almonds.

Line a 2 lb loaf tin with plastic wrap, and press in the mixture to form a brick shape. Chill to make it firm up; freezing should work, or 20 minutes in a fridge.

Bring the oven to 160C. Remove and unwrap the brick, and slice it as thin as possible: 2-3mm, or the thickness of a thin coin, should do. Place them onto greaseproof paper (less trouble turning them than silicon mats), and bake for 10-15 minutes on each side. They should be firm enough to be able to flip without trouble; they don’t spread, but will stick together if they touch.

They keep well in an airtight container; should be good for a week or more. The dough can be frozen.