Makes: 40
INGREDIENTS
1 egg, beaten
75ml white wine plus a few drops
50g caster sugar
½ tsp baking powder
25ml vegetable oil
300g plain flour (approx)
Icing sugar, to dust
For the marzipan:
300g ground almonds
150g icing sugar
A few drops of almond extract
2 egg whites (you can use pasteurised egg whites for safety)
METHOD
To make the dough, beat all the pastry ingredients except the flour in a bowl.
Stir in the flour gradually to form a soft dough.
Knead until smooth and not sticky. You may need to add a little more flour.
To make the marzipan, put all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix until smooth.
To make the biscuits, heat your oven to 160°C and line a baking tray with parchment.
Prepare 40 small cylinder shapes of marzipan each about 2cm long and 1cm in diameter. You will have some over.
On a floured surface, roll the dough until very thin.
Cut circles with a 5cm round biscuit cutter.
Place a marzipan cylinder in the middle of each circle.
Fold one edge over and press the dough down to ensure there is no air between the dough and marzipan. There may be excess dough from the top half you have folded over.
Using your finger to lightly moisten the edges with a dab of wine seal the edges close to the marzipan.
Curve to form a little crescent shape.
Remove the excess dough with a pastry crimper or the round cutter and then seal it by pressing with the tines of a fork for decoration.
Bake for 10 minutes
Cool and dip them in icing sugar before serving.
