We are now in the third month of our GBTS project and are slowly fitting in our wardrobe again. We decided to ease the discipline for a small treat and after days of consultation we settled for almond biscuits. Why? I think because we had tuned the recipe just before we cut on sugar to the optimum balance of the three ingredients according to our taste, and the biscuit became the Sancho Panza of our coffee.

The main ingredient is – of course- almonds.

Stay, Almonds! This is probably the summit of cult of all dialogs in kitsch Greek cinema of the 60s. A potent looking shepherd offers some almonds to a blond English tourist. She doesn’t understand, panics and runs across the countryside while the benign shepherd follows her shouting: “Stay, almonds!” I do not know what happens after that, I think no-one has seen the whole movie since the 60s.

The recipe that follows looks a little vintage – the ingredients someone could easily find in any shop in the 60s. But it proves that masterpieces do not have to rely on over the top components or over-complicated instructions. You just have to be precise and humble!

We use a good quality organic almond flour, that can be found in some delis. You can use ground almonds, that you can prepare in a food processor at home for a more grainy result.

For 12 biscuits

• 1 egg white
• 100g fine caster sugar
• 135g blanched almond flour or blanched ground almonds
• 12 whole blanched almonds

Preheat the oven to 180^ο C 

Using your hand mixer beat the egg white to soft peaks. Add the sugar and continue to beat until stiff and glossy.

Add the almond flour (or ground almonds) and fold carefully into the meringue with a rubber spatula until evenly combined.

Take a teaspoonful of the dough and roll lightly into a ball. Flatten each biscuit a little in the palm of your hand, and place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, leaving some space between each biscuit.

Place a whole almond on top of each biscuit. 

Bake them in the middle of the oven for 10 minutes or until lightly golden. Cool on the baking sheet, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

When cool, wrap each one with cling film and store in an airtight tin, so that they remain crusty on the outside and very moist inside for several days. You can also freeze these biscuits for 3 months, just thaw them for a few hours prior to serving.