Therefore Welcome One Another

(Sound of knocking on door) (Spoken) Come in, well, well, well, look who's here. I haven't seen you in many years.
If I knew you were coming, I'd 've baked a cake, baked a cake, baked a cake. A 50s song by Eileen Barton.






What cake would I be baking? It would be these Apricot Almond Squares. They're just perfect for you.  Delicious looking cakes with apricot and almond flakes. Don't they look like the sun peeking through the clouds? Buttery and crumbly moist and soft, I would served them warm with a cup of tea.

Now, if you have guests coming and want to bake a cake,  won't you bake these apricot almond squares too? Here's the recipe

Apricot Tray Bakes
adapted from happyhomebaking
makes nine 6cm squares, 6 inch square pan


Ingredients

100g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
30g caster sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract

2 egg whites
60g caster sugar

80g cake flour
40g+30g ground almond
9 apricot halves, canned apricots
almond flakes


Method

• Wash the canned apricots to remove the syrup,drain,pat dry with paper towel and set aside.
• Place butter in a mixing bowl,beat with a wooden spoon or a balloon whisk till smooth. Add the sugar and continue to beat until the mixture turns pale, light and fluffy.
• Gradually add in the egg yolks( a teaspoon at a time), whisking after each addition.
• Add in the vanilla extract, whisk to continue. Set aside.
• In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with a handheld electric mixer on low speed until mixture becomes frothy and foamy.Add half of the sugar and turn to high speed and beat until egg whites reaches the soft peak stage. The soft peak stage is reached the peaks of the whites curl over and droop slightly. The egg whites should appear smooth and glossy.
• Add the beaten egg whites into the butter and egg yolk batter in 2 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
• Sieve over the flour and 40g of ground almond. Fold with the spatula until just combined. Spoon half of the batter into a 18cm square pan (lined with parchment paper). Spread and smooth out the batter evenly. Arrange the apricots, cut side down.
• Add 30g of ground almond into the remaining batter. Fold with a spatula until combined. Place batter into a piping bag. Snip off the tip of the piping bag and pipe the batter horizontally and vertically along the edges of the pan and in between the apricots. Sprinkle almond flakes on the surface of the piped batter.
• Bake in preheated oven at 180C for about 30-35 mins or until the surface turns golden and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• Remove from oven, leave to cool for about 5 minutes. Unmould and transfer to wire rack, leave to cool completely.

Note: I beat egg white first, then using the same whisk, beat the butter and sugar in another bowl.
          I divide the batter into 3/4 for spreading and 1/4 for piping. To make 20 slices, I bake in 9 inch
          square pan using one and half of the ingredients.

Church Open House

A way to introduce the church to the community and establish bridges to people around the church.

Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. Romans 15:7