CHERRY AND ALMOND SLICE

THIS BBC reader recipe tray-bake is a winter winner and a slice of it is real comfort food when served with a cup of tea or coffee. INGREDIENTS:

375g pack of ready rolled shortcrust pastry 100g butter, softened 100g caster sugar 1 egg, beaten 25g ground rice (use a spice grinder to grind rice as finely as you can) 50g ground almonds 50g desiccated coconut

50g walnuts, roughly chopped

5 tablespoons of cher- ry jam

100g red glacé cherries METHOD:

Heat the oven to 180ºC. Line the base of an 18cm x 27cm baking tin with greaseproof or baking paper. Line the base and sides with the pastry, trim the edges, then chill in the fridge while you make the filling.

Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy, then gradually add the egg until creamy.

Stir in the rice, almonds, coconut and nuts. Spread the jam over the pastry, then dollop the almond mixture on top. Don’t worry if there are some little gaps as the filling will spread during baking.

Dot the cherries over the top, then bake for 40 minutes until light golden and set. Check after half an hour – if the top is browning too quickly, cover loosely with greaseproof paper.

Cool in the tin then cut into slices.

It makes 15 to 20 slices, depending on the size you cut them.