London Almond

I have no idea how the term London Almond comes about, but its surely a favourite with kids.  My version is the modified one where instead of having almonds rolled into the dough, I add powdered almond into the dough and shape them.  This is a 2 step process, base the base or the almond balls, then dipped into cooking chocolate and decorate with chopped almonds

London Almond - picture courtesy of Google

Ingredients

for the dough

250gm unsalted butter
130gm icing sugar
450gm all purpose flour
350gm of powdered almond * (my modified version) otherwise roasted almonds
2 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla essence
pinch of salt
chopped almonds, roasted
cooking chocolate, double boiled
small paper cups

Method

1. Beat sugar and butter till fluffy and light
2. Add egg yolk and essence vanilla and beat further for another 3mins
3. Add flour, powdered almond and salt and mix well till well form into a dough.
4.  Shape into balls (If you using whole almond as filling, a ball and add in the almond into it and shape it , normally elongated shape like the almond)
5.  Bake at 160C for approximately 15-18mins depending on your oven.
6.  Let it cool
7.  Double boil your cooking chocolate. see info on how to do it
8.  Dip several balls into the chocolate, let it covered fully and then place into a paper cup and decorate with some chopped almonds.





What is double boil
http://www.homemade-chinese-soups.com/double-boiling.html
Double boiling is not like melting chocolate over boiling water. It is submerging a ceramic jar/glass jar containing the ingredients into a pot of boiling water.


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Melting Chocolate in a Double Boiler

https://noshon.it/tips/melting-chocolate-in-a-double-boiler

Since chocolate is so sensitive to heat, you have to be extremely careful when melting it otherwise it will break and separate. We’ve talked before about how to do this in the microwave but the more common approach that chefs use is called a “double boiler.” Here’s how to do it:

1. Add 1” of water to a medium saucepan or pot and bring to a very gentle simmer.
2. Place a heat-safe bowl on top of the pot so that the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water. You want the steam from the water to gently warm the bowl.
3. Add the chopped chocolate to the bowl and stir occasionally with a spatula until smooth and melted.
4. Remove the bowl from the heat and use. If the chocolate starts to become too hard, just put the bowl back over the simmering water.

By using the steam from the water to heat the bowl, you avoid direct contact with the chocolate and allow the chocolate to melt slowly so it stay smooth.