Abricotines

I got this recipe from a book that I bought without even reading it first. It was all wrapped at the bookstore but the name on the cover - Ladurée - was enough to make me buy it.

Today, I'm making Abricotines (or Apricotines if you prefer). The original recipe uses apricot jam but I reckon it must be even better with raspberry jam. Btw, you'll notice that I've broken the 'three recipes a week using the same ingredient' rule (I'm such a rebel!).

Anyway, back to our Abricotines.

To make 30 little cakes you need:

170g of icing sugar

215g of ground almonds

35g of plain flour

6 egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

40g of granulated sugar

85g of flaked almonds

100g of jam (apricot, raspberry, cherry...whatever tickles your fancy!)

1. In a bowl, combine together the sifted icing sugar, ground almonds and flour.
2. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites to a foam. Add the vanilla extract and granulated sugar and continue whisking until firm.

3. Add the flour mixture to the egg whites and gently fold together until homogeneous.

4. Preheat the oven to 170°C. Put the batter in a piping bag fitted with a plain nostril. On a baking tray lined with baking parchment, pipe 2 cm-diameter circles. Sprinkle them with flaked almonds and bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

5. When cooked, take out of the oven. Once cooled, place a bit of jam on half the shells and top each with the remaining shells. Ta-dah...!