Almond Biscuit Tower – Lina Saad

Inspired by a Swedish Kramekaake, this almond-flavoured chewy biscuit by award-winning food author Lina Saad goes well with the pistachios and raspberries all around.

White chocolate drizzles with pistachios and raspberries drive the flavours of this authentic biscuit to a different level. The crisp outer layer of the biscuit is so joyful right down to the chewy, semi sweet layer that seamlessly blends with the tangy raspberries, sweet white chocolate andp istachios.

INGREDIENTS

Biscuit

• 500g ground almonds
• 500g icing sugar sieved
• 4 egg whites (at room temperature)
• 1tsp rose water
• 1tsp orange blossom water
• Semolina for dusting
• 200g ground raw pistachios

Topping

• 300g white chocolate
• 200g fresh raspberries

METHOD

1. Into a food processor, whisk the egg white with a dash of salt until fluffy and stiff.
2. In a bowl, put the ground almonds and sieve the icing sugar; mix evenly well with a spatula.
3. Now add the dry ingredients (sugar and almonds) into the egg whites gradually and fold until fully incorporated.
4. Add the rose water and orange blossom flavours. The dough at this stage would be sticky so add some semolina (about a handful and knead it for about 10 minutes).
5. Wrap it up in cling film and chill for about 3 hours. In the mean time, wash the pistachios and try to peel some of its outer layer and ground coarsely in the food processor.
6. Wash the raspberries and place on a clean kitchen towel.
7. The key in using this dough is that it has to be chilled, otherwise things will get pretty messy.
8. Many professionals use diameter rings. But I’ve discovered that it’s rather pleasing to divide my dough into different ball sizes ranging from largest to smallest.
9. Start by rolling the largest ball into a snake like shape and then attach the ends so it looks like a large circle.
10. Do the same for the other balls, working your way out from the largest to the smallest, so you are able later, and after baking, to stack the Kransekake from the largest to the smallest right to the top.
11. Now carefully place the circled cookies on parchment paper and bake in the oven at 180C for about 12-15 minutes or until slightly golden in colour.
12. Remove the round cookies and allow to cool; now melt the white chocolate and empty into a plastic tube with a nozzle.
13. Pipe the white chocolate around the largest biscuit and stack the slightly smaller ring biscuit. Do the same thing until you reach the smallest ring at the top.
14. Add extra dots of white chocolate and decorate with fresh raspberries, mini mint leaves and sprinkle some pistachios. An excellent showstopper!

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