Maranchino biscuits

Food & drink
Claudia Roden’s Maranchino Biscuits

Excellent with coffee, these little almond biscuits from Turkey and the Balkans are quick and easy to make.

Mix 400g of ground almonds and 150g of golden caster sugar together and add two or three drops of almond essence and two tablespoons of rose water.

Bind the ingredients together with two lightly beaten eggs, and work until the dough is smooth.

Roll walnut sized balls of dough, place on a greased baking tray and flatten slightly with your fingers.  You should get about thirty biscuits.

Bake at 180c for twenty-five minutes, but keep an eye out to prevent the edges from burning.

This recipe is from Claudia Roden’s The Book of Jewish Food.

A fascinating and authoritative glimpse into the untold culinary riches of the Jewish world, this is a serious and important book, with some stunning recipes.  Roden understands the collision of food and culture perfectly and shows clearly how each make the other.