Scrumiddleyumptious Cookie

(Almond paste cookies with orange, lemon and ginger)
Makes abot 12 biscuits

You will need...
500g granulated sugar, 400g ground almonds, 20g orange zest, 4 egg whites, 70g stem ginger in syrup (chopped), 1.5 tsp lemon oil, 1.5 tsp ground ginger, icing sugar to sprinkle, 12 whole almonds to decorate

How to do it...
Preheat oven o Gas 5/185 degrees c
Whisk egg whites fast to make stiff peaks. Mix in the rest of ingredients until a sticky dough is formed. It will look a buttery/yellow/brown freckled colour. If there is dry mix at the bottom, just blend in by hand.

Break into 12 golf-ball sized pieces of dough. Then roll ito a dumpling shape. Gently roll each cookie in a bowl of icing sugar until it is evenly coated.

Place them on a papered baking tray. Make sure the cookies don't touch each other or the side of the tray. Flatten each one with a knife and pop an almond in the centre.

Put in the oven for 20 mins. Towards the end of the cooking time gently lift the cookie to check that it is light to mid golden colour underneath. The cookies should be firm but not hard and chewy when cold.

They keep for a fortnight in an airtight tin and freeze well.

Heathcliffe Brownie

Makes an A4-sized tray (Emma loves Lakeland's Blade tray, £9.78, www.lakeland.co.uk)

You wil need...
180g butter unsalted, 200g dark chocolate (54% cocoa solids), 160g very dark chocolate chunks (72% cocoa solids), 2tsp coffee extract, 4 eggs, 150g sugar, 100g ground almonds, 80g chopped toasted almonds, 1/6 tsp tsp sea salt, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 1tsp vanilla extract, 1tsp orange oil, 25g orange zest strips

How to do it...
Pre heat oven to Gas mark 4/18 degrees c.

Melt the butter in microwave for 1 min. Melt the 20g dark chocolate in microwave for 30 secs and stir to ensure it is completely melted.

Allow the melted butter to cool slightly, add the coffee and stir well. Then add orange oil, and orange zest to the melted butter mix. You will now have 2 bowls: 1- for your melted chocolate, 2- for your butter,cofee, orange mix.

Using a third bowl take special care to add the ingredients in this order (do not mix yet): eggs, ground almonds, very dark choc chunks, suga. Now add the rest of the dry ingredients.Lastly poor in the melted dark chocolate from bowl 1 and the butter mix from bowl 2. When the ingredients are all layered up in the bowl mix until creamy and thickened.

Pour the raw brownie mix into a well- buttered tray. Make sure the chocolate chunks are evenly spread.

Cook for 45-48 minutes. Take care not to over bake. The brownies are ready when the edges are slightly crusty and the middle is still soft. The middle should be very moist but should have a firmish feel to it. Enjoy!