THESE are great to make with the kids on a wet and cold Sunday afternoon!

You will need: Large bowl (plastic or Pyrex); some kitchen scales; a round biscuit cutter about three-inches diameter and a smaller one about the size of a £1 coin; a nice pair of clean hands; some cling film; rolling pin; an egg lift to lift the biscuits on to your baking tray and some space in the fridge!


Ingredients for one batch (easy to double up as long as you weigh accurately):

150g firm unsalted butter
150g flour (50/50 plain and self raising)
150g caster sugar
100g ground almonds (or, if you prefer, ground hazelnuts)
A large egg separated (keep white and yolk in different bowls)
A teaspoon of lemon juice (the Jiff in a bottle is great for this if you don’t have a fresh lemon)
Pinch of cinnamon (or ground cloves if you prefer)
Jar of your favourite jam (raspberry, strawberry or red cherry jam are the nicest for this recipe)


Method

Rub your butter and flour together until it resembles fine breadcrumbs, then add sugar, ground almonds and spices, then your egg yolk and lemon juice, squash all ingredients together to form a nice soft ball, tip on to your work surface and knead for just a minute until your dough feels soft and pliable. Wrap in cling film and put into the fridge for at least an hour.

When nicely chilled you can then take it out of the fridge and just very lightly dust your work top with flour (no need for lots as it will make your dough brittle and change the flavour).

Squash the dough flat with your hands and then roll gently with your rolling pin until the dough is about the depth of two pound coins on top of each other. The dough does rise a little in the oven. Cut out your biscuits and count out an even number.

Half of the biscuits now need to have a hole cut in the middle with your small cutter, the other half should be left whole. One half will form the base of the biscuits, the other half the top.

You can keep re-rolling your dough until you have run out. On your uncut round of dough place a teaspoon of your jam and just spread it a little but not over the edge of the dough.

Now place your other cut-out dough biscuit on top. You can see the jam through the middle which looks so pretty when it’s cooked. Lift your biscuits with your egg lift and place on to your baking tray making sure they do not touch each other.

Bake in a moderate oven which for me is about 150C/ gas 5 for about 15-20 minutes (but keep an eye on them, you want them golden but not dark brown).

When they come out of the oven, leave them on the tray until cold as they are very soft and they firm up after about 30 minutes. Warning: these biscuits cannot be dunked in your tea!!

Decoration: To make them extra special you can decorate with chocolate and almond flakes.

• Anita Tasker runs Pattacakes, the bakery, cafe and patisserie in Main Street, Welburn, near Castle Howard