SITGES, SEPTEMBER 2012
By Jessica

Contracting food poisoning is a hideous fate when you’re a foodie, being surrounded by glorious morsels when you have no appetite is my idea of hell on earth. So I wasn’t best pleased when I found myself in Spain, during my best friend’s wedding week, in exactly this predicament and only being able to manage meagre bowls of soup. (The only bonus was I managed to lose a few pounds during the week and looked particularly svelte on the actual wedding day!!)
The wedding banquet was glorious, being unable to stomach any of it was shockingly sad! However, I was craving sugar by that point and wolfed down the beautiful dessert which was a delicate cross between a macaroon, banoffee pie and cheesecake with a wonderfully nutty note running through (pictures left). I could have eaten 20 of them!  These cookies were inspired by my need for all things sweet, and  Christian ate the lot in 2 days flat!

Scrumptious Almond Macaroons (makes about 15 cookies)
Ingredients:  1/2 pack butter, 1 bag ground almonds 200g, tablespoon runny honey, 2 tablespoon white sugar, tablespoon rum (I used spiced rum), enough fine white flour to bring to a ball rolling consistency (around half a cup)


The mix In a large bowl put the butter and the sugar, beat until it looks light and fluffy and the sugar granules have dissolved. Beat in the honey until combined. Add the ground almonds and mix thoroughly. Add the rum and mix thoroughly. Add the flour bit by bit until the dough forms a soft ball. You should be able to roll lumps of the dough in to balls in your hands so it can’t be too sticky, but you don’t want the mix to be dry and crumbly, so go for a soft ball consistency.

Bake Preheat your oven to 180c (if it’s a fan oven go a little cooler at 150c), line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper, roll the balls around the size of a golf ball and squash slightly to make fat discs. Put on the tray with a little gap in-between each as they will spread when cooking. Bake for 6-10 minutes until very lightly golden, watch them carefully as they can burn easily. They should still be soft and squidgy when you bring them out. Leave them to cool slightly them transfer gently to a rack to cool completely. They should be soft on the inside and a little crunchy on the outside.
Tip If you have a wheat allergy you can always replace the flour with more ground almonds so they are completely wheat free. Also, for a twist on the plain cookie, you can cut fresh stoned cherries in half and press half a cherry in to the top of each cookie before baking them.