Melting moments with blood orange curd

Blood oranges vary in intensity of colour, some are very red, others mainly orange. This will affect the colour of the curd. You can buy orange curd if it’s more convenient.

▪ Makes 20 ▪ Prep 10 mins ▪ Cook 30 mins

250g butter, at room remperature 50g icing sugar 250g plain flour 50g custard powder FOR THE ORANGE CURD 2 blood oranges, zested and

1 juiced

40g golden caster sugar

40g unsalted butter, chopped into

small cubes

1 egg yolk

100g mascarpone

1 Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan/ gas 5. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Put the butter, icing sugar, flour and custard powder in a food processor and whizz to a soft dough, then spoon into a piping bag with a round nozzle. 2 Pipe out small, round biscuits about 4cm wide on the baking sheet and press down on each with a wet finger to get rid of any peaks, or use a wet fork to make stripes. Bake for 15-20 mins or until firm to the touch. Leave to cool completely.

3 To make the curd, put the orange juice and zest in a pan and bring to the boil. Reduce by half, then mix in the caster sugar and butter and let the butter melt. Cool for a few minutes, then gradually mix in the egg yolk. Stir over a low heat for 10 mins until the mixture thickens, being careful not to let it boil. Cool completely, then fold in the mascarpone.

4 Sandwich two biscuits together with the filling. Eat these within the day as they will soften over time, or leave them unfilled until you need them.

PER SERVING 189 kcals, fat 13g, saturates 8g, carbs 16g, fibre 0.5g, protein 2g, salt 0.2g