I am moving flats soon and trying to use up some of the many baking ingredients I have lying around (there are a lot of them!) This recipe was a great way to use up three of those things: apricot jam, flaked almonds and ground almonds. They are also a great traybake recipe, perfect for bake sales! I took these into work for a bake sale we did recently to raise money for Key 103's Cash for Kids. They are a Manchester based charity that help out children in the local area, I think it's a fantastic cause and it's great to take part in raising money for the local community. If you want to know more about Cash for Kids, click here. And if you want to know how to make these yummy Apricot Bakewell Slices, read on...
You can buy a 375g pack of shortcrust pastry if you like, but making it is so simple and much cheaper! I rubbed 100g butter into 225g plain flour and 1 tsp salt.
I added 2 1/2 tbsp cold water and brought the mixture together to form a dough. I wrapped it in cling film and chilled for 30 minutes. Simple!
I rolled the pastry out to fit my lined baking tin and pricked it with a fork. I chilled it again for 20 minutes.
I baked the pastry on 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 for 10 minutes.
To make the sponge I first creamed 200g butter and 200g golden caster sugar together.
I whisked in 4 beaten eggs and 1/2 tsp almond extract, and folded in 100g ground almonds and 100g self raising flour.
Using a brush I spread the apricot jam over the pastry. You can use any kind of jam you like with this recipe, whatever needs using up in your fridge!
I spooned the sponge over the top and gently spread it out. A final sprinkling of flaked almonds and it was ready to go in the oven.
After 35 minutes baked on 160C/325F/Gas Mark 3 it was a lovely golden brown.
I cut it into appropriate sized pieces, and froze them as I made them a few days before the bake sale. They froze really well (as most baked goods do). I didn't get much feedback on them, but the tray they were on emptied out pretty quickly! I also managed to sneak a slice and it was very tasty! I think these would benefit from a drizzle of icing on top too next time I make them.
I am entering this bake into this month's Credit Crunch Munch, ran by Camilla at Fab Food 4 All and Helen at Fuss Free Flavours and this month hosted by Gingey Bites as I used up some ingredients I had in my cupboard and fridge to make it.
Recipe adapted from BBC Good Food.
