Ingredients

• 125g/4½oz unsalted butter
• softened
• 125g/4½oz icing sugar
• portioned into 100g/3½ oz and 25g/1oz parts
• both sieved
• 25g/1oz ground almonds
• 3 free-range eggs
• whites only
• 165g/5¾oz plain flour
• sifted
• 1 to 2 oranges (depending on size)
• zest only
• 1 tsp orange extract
• 200g/7oz white chocolate
• finely chopped
• 1 tsp cardamom pods
• seeds only
• ground

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 170C/350F/Gas 4.
• Beat the butter until very
• very soft (preferably using an electric stand mixer) and there are no lumps
• then beat in 100g/3½oz icing sugar for a minute.
• Sift the ground almonds and remaining icing sugar together over the mixture and stir in.
• Continue mixing
• adding the egg whites one at a time.
• Then mix in the flour.
• Add the orange zest and orange extract.
• Leave the mixture to rest for 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile
• mark out 7cm/2¾in lines
• set at least 3cm/1¼in apart
• on baking parchment
• to guide where to pipe the biscuits. Flip the paper over and pipe on the unmarked side (the lines will show through).
• Fill a piping bag fitted with 1cm/½in plain nozzle with the biscuit mixture and pipe out. Smooth the tips down at the end of the line with a finger wetted in water.
• Bake for 8-9 minutes until the pale biscuits are just colouring and the centre is just golden-brown
• with the edges slightly darker. This may take up to 10-12 minutes.
• Remove the biscuits from the oven and leave on the tray for 1-2 minutes. Using a palette knife transfer the biscuits to a wire rack to cool. Alternatively you can leave the biscuits to dry out and cool on the tray if slightly underdone.
• To decorate
• combine the chopped chocolate and ground cardamom seeds.
• Melt two-thirds of the chopped white chocolate very gently in a heat-proof bowl set on top of a pan of simmering water. Heat the chocolate to no more than 45C/113F (use a thermometer to measure this)
• remove from the heat and then add the remaining white chocolate
• stirring continually until the temperature drops to 32C/90F. Transfer to narrow or steep sided small bowl.
• Half dip each biscuit in the chocolate and then lay flat on baking parchment to dry.