Cherry Bakewell Slices

Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 55 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 12
• 350 g cherries
• 500 g shortcrust pastry
• 6 tablespoons cherry jam
• 175 g butter
• 175 g sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 drops almond extract
• 150 g ground almonds
• 75 g self-raising flour
• 50 g almonds
• icing sugar
• cherries

Recipe

• 1 preheat the oven to 190c/170c fan/gas 5. drain the cherries, then put on treble thickness kitchen paper.
• 2 roll out the pastry and use it to line a 33x23cm shallow tin, allowing it to come 3cm up the sides.
• 3 line the pastry with a piece of foil and weigh it down with rice. bake for 10 minutes then remove the foil and rice and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes.
• 4 spread the base with the preserve. scatter the cherries over the base.
• 5 beat the butter and caster sugar until creamy. beat in the eggs one at a time, then the extract. fold in the ground almonds and flour.
• 6 spread over the pastry base, then sprinkle with the flaked almonds. bake for 40 minutes, covering loosely with foil after 25 minutes, to stop it browning too much.
• 7 leave to cool. dust with icing sugar and decorate with cherries, if using.