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Moroccan Syllabub with Almond biscuits

Based on an idea from Sky Taste, but the recipes were unavailable, so equivalents have been stolen from elsewhere.

Syllabub
Cointreau
caster sugar
lemon juice
whipping cream

Mix together the first 3 ingredients. Add the whipping cream and whip until thickend. Using a typical moroccan tea glass, scoop some creme patissiere (see below), add fresh raspberries soaked overnight in Framboise / Kirsch, and top with syllabub. Finish with chopped pistachios. Serve with almond biscuits.

Almond biscuits

Recipe taken from http://www.greenchronicle.com/

2 organic egg whites
1 tablespoon blanched almonds
1/2 cup caster/superfine sugar
2 tablespoons plain flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (or honey)
4 tablespoons organic butter

Put the almonds into a food processor and chop finely. Whip the egg whites with the sugar until foamy but not stiff. Add the sieved flour, vanilla and almonds. Melt the butter (do not make it hot) and add to the mixture.
Mix well.

Put teaspoonfuls of the mixture, keeping them at least 6 inches apart, onto a buttered baking sheet. Flatten the mounds of mixture. Bake at 180 degrees centigrade (see temperature conversions) for about 5 minutes.
The biscuits should be golden at the edges.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool a little. Whilst the biscuits are still pliable, lift with a flat knife and shape over the base of a small cup (butter the cup first). Allow to go completely cold. (Alternatively, use a stencil to make sail shapes, Eric left the mix to set in fridge for at least an hour before setting out to bake).

Nigellas Turkish syllabub

12 tablespoons (approx 175ml) Cointreau
juice of 2 lemons
8 tablespoons (approx 125g) caster sugar
just under 600ml double cream
2 tablespoons rosewater
2 tablespoons orange flower water
2 tablespoons pistacchios finely chopped

1.Combine the Cointreau, lemon juice and sugar in a large bowl (I use the bowl of my KitchenAid mixer) and stir to dissolve the sugar, or as good as. Slowly stir in the cream then get whisking. As I said, I use my freestanding mixer for this, but if you haven't got one, don't worry - but I would then advise a hand- held electric mixer. This takes ages to thicken and doing it by hand will drive you demented with tedium and impatience. Or it would me.

2.When the cream's fairly thick, but still not thick enough to hold its shape, dribble in the flower waters and then keep whisking until you have a creamy mixture that's light and airy but able to form soft peaks. I always think of syllabub as occupying some notional territory between solid and liquid; you're aiming, as you whisk, for what Jane Grigson called 'bulky whiteness'. Whatever: better slightly too runny than slightly too thick, so proceed carefully, but don't get anxious about it.

3.Spoon the syllabub in airy dollops into small glasses, letting the mixture billow up above the rim of the glass, and scatter finely chopped pistacchios on top. In How to Eat, there's a recipe for pistacchio crescents which would be fabulous dunked into and eaten with this. But only if you feel like it: the cool, fool-like smoothness of this is perfect as it is.

Creme patissiere (pastry cream)

By: Rachel Allen, a classic pastry cream that can be used in fruit tarts or cream puffs

4 egg yolks
100g caster sugar
25g plain flour, sifted
1 vanilla pod, with a line scored down the side, or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
350ml milk

1. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until light and thick, then stir in the flour.

2. Put the vanilla pod (if using) in a saucepan with the milk and bring it slowly just up to the boil. Remove the vanilla pod and pour the milk onto the egg mixture, whisking all the time. Return the mixture to the pan and stir over a low-medium heat until it comes up to a gentle boil. (It must boil for it to thicken.) Continue to cook, stirring all the time (or use a whisk if it looks lumpy), for 2 minutes or until it has thickened.

3. Remove the saucepan from the heat, add the vanilla extract (if using) and pour into a bowl. If the mixture goes a little lumpy while cooking, remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk well. If it is still lumpy when cooked, push it through a sieve.

4. Cover with cling film and allow to cool. It must be covered, or the surface must be rubbed with a tiny knob of butter to prevent a skin forming.