Ginger & Almond Shortcake Slices

There’s nothing I like more than spending a cold winter afternoon, in a warm and inviting kitchen, baking a festive sweet treat of some kind. Each year I bake traditional Christmas desserts, including mince pies and Christmas cake. However, this year I decided to call upon an old recipe of mine, and add a festive twist. This year I have made ginger and almond shortcake slices. These delicious fingers are super easy to make, and are a nice alternative for a Christmas snack. Similar to shortbread biscuits, shortcake is lovely and buttery, but slightly lighter in texture and more cake like, as the name suggests. With the addition of a golden syrup and ginger icing, and flaked almonds, these wonderful slices are sure to have you reaching for another this Christmas.

Ingredients:For the cake:

• 175g butter, plus extra for greasing
• 185g caster sugar
• 1200g plain flour
• 1 tsp ground ginger

For the icing

• 100g butter
• 2 tbsp golden syrup
• 8 tbsp icing sugar
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• Flaked almonds for decoration

Method:

1. Heat oven to 160 degrees and grease a 20cm baking tray. If you do not have a baking tray this size, roughly grease a 20cm square on a baking tray. The mixture will be thick enough to withhold the square shape.
2. Beat the butter and sugar together, until pale and creamy. Sift in the flour and ginger, and then mix together. Lightly flour your hands and bring the mixture together to form a dough.
3. Spread the dough onto the baking tray and bake for 30 mins until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
4. For the icing, melt the butter and golden syrup in a pan, over a medium heat. Once melted, remove from the heat and sift in the icing sugar and ginger. Mix everything together until smooth and gloss. Allow to cool.
5. Carefully cut your square of shortcake into 16 equal fingers. Using a palette knife spread the icing over each slice, and decorate with flaked almonds.