Marigold melts
Makes 24
A cross between a biscuit and a cake, these soft little disks are pepped up with a pinch of dried marigolds. If, like me, you are gardenless, you can order the petals online (I got mine from Sous Chef) or use strands of saffron instead. Juicy sultanas take inspiration from the traditional Cornish saffron cake, but the addition of almonds (and making them gluten-free) is my fancy.
Ingredients
2 tbsp warm milk
a large pinch of dried marigold petals (or a small pinch of saffron)
120g potato flour
120g ground almonds
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
a pinch of salt
120g unsalted butter, softened
150g caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (or 1 or 2 drops of saffron extract, such as Holy Lama Spice Drops)
1 large egg, beaten
120g sultanas or raisins
about 25g chopped almonds
Method
- Heat the oven to 180oC/160oC fan/ gas 4 and line several baking sheets with non-stick baking parchment (as many as you can fit in the oven at one time).
- Let the marigolds steep in the warm milk.
- Sift the flour with the ground almonds and bicarbonate of soda, and add a pinch of salt.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter with the sugar and add the egg and mix well.
- Stir in the flour mix, then add the sultanas.
- Spoon teaspoonfuls of the mix onto a baking tray, leaving plenty of room for the mixture to melt and spread.
- Sprinkle with the chopped almonds and bake for about 12 minutes, until flat and golden brown.
- Leave them to cool on the baking parchment before you try to remove.
- Repeat with the next batch.