Hawthorn and Nut Autumn Biscuits

Ingredients:

250g hawthorn berries
250g chestnuts
30g shelled hazelnuts (or walnuts)
100g sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
70g butter, melted and cooled
50g cornflour (or potato starch)

Method:

Strip the hawthorn berries from their stems, place in a pan and add 300ml water. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes, or until the berries are soft. Take off the heat then press the mixture through a fine-meshed sieve to extract as much purée as possible (this leaves the skins and seeds behind). After this process you should have about 200ml of purée.

In the meantime, make a slit in the chestnuts. Place in a pan of boiling water and cook for about 12 minutes. Drain and refresh under cold water then peel. Place the peeled chestnuts in a pan, add a little water (about 60ml), bring to a simmer and cook until the chestnuts are tender (about 10 minutes). Take off the heat and mash with a potato masher.

Combine the mashed chestnuts and hawthorn purée in a bowl then beat in the sugar, eggs, honey, salt, baking powder and melted butter. Stir well to combine. Now break up the nuts in a food processor and add to the biscuit mix along with the cornflour. Stir well to combine and mix thoroughly.

Take heaped tablespoons of the batter and place, at least 5cm apart, on a well-greased baking tray. Transfer to an oven pre-heated to 220°C and cook for about 15 minutes, or until lightly golden.

Allow to cool on the baking tray for about 15 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.