Cashew apricot slice

I  can never resist the book shelves in the charity shops. Cook books hold a special place in my heart, especially of the vintage variety. Last year I was lucky to get a copy of The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits (The Australian Women's Weekly, 1982 edition) for a princely sum of 20p. I have bookmarked quite a few recipes from the book, as they look so tasty.

One of the bookmarked recipes which I had an eye on for a long time is an apricot nut slice which uses peanuts and a mix of flours. I have adapted the recipe, changing the nuts, and adding ground nuts to the base to make it even nuttier. The base of this traybake is similar to shortbread. It's short and crumbly, and not too sweet. The topping is a mix of chopped and ground cashews, with cocoa, coconut and apricot jam. Basically, it's a recipe for fans of nuts.

Cashew apricot slice
Ingredients:
50g cashews, ground
130g plain flour
1tbsp caster sugar
1 egg yolk
90g butter
for the topping:
55g apricot jam
1 egg white
60g caster sugar
30g coconut
1tbso cocoa, sifted
150g cashews (1/3 chopped, 2/3 blitzed)

Blitz the cashews and add to the mixing bowl with the flour. Add sugar, egg yolk and chopped cold butter. Make crumbs, using hands, then combine together to form a rather stiff dough.
Take a brownie tin and line with the foil or parchment paper, spray with the oil. Press the dough evenly in the tin, and bake at 180C for 10 minutes.

In a mixing bowl mix together the apricot jam with caster sugar, dissicated coconut, sift in the cocoa powder. Chop 1/3 of the cashews roughly and blitz the remaining nuts. Add to the jam mix.
Remove the tin from the oven, and spread the jam mix on top of the biscuit base evenly.
Place the tin back in the oven for another 20 minutes.

Allow to cool in the tin before cutting into slices.

It's a tasty traybake, which goes well with tea or coffee.

In this recipe I used Whole Cashew Nuts from Whole Foods Online. They have a wide selection of nuts, whole and chopped, in different sizes, from 125g bag to 22kg.
Cashews make a great all round snack, they are high in protein and healthy fats which could assist in controlling cholesterol levels. They also contain a host of vitamins and minerals, essential for daily boidly function.
Whole nuts from Whole Foods Online are raw, unsalted and unroasted. They have a crunchy exterior and a creamy texture.

They are such a versatile ingredient, great in baking or in ethic recipes, from curry to stir fry, from ramen to nachos, and many more.

What is your favourite recipe with cashew nuts?

Disclosure: I received a bag of cashews for using them as an ingredient in a recipe post.