Apple crumble biscuits

When I was a child, any dessert that wasn't ice-cream would be met with tears and tantrums. But my parents found a way to fix that in the '80s, with frozen apples and pastry.

There is nothing more loving and homely then removing an amateurishly-shaped golden-brown pie from the oven and serving it up for the little ones. The most annoying thing about these desserts was that they roughly took about an hour to cook, which by my estimation the same time you would need to whip one up from almost scratch. A dubious layer of custard that left a strange coating on your tongue, unpalatable apple pieces powder coated in cinnamon and then an unusual top pattern of unnecessary icing. Great. You can imagine the serving sizes when split between seven people – a generous slice the width of a human hair. We didn’t complain – we knew it'd be followed by a swift crack across the knuckles and the threat of pineapple. These apple crumble biscuits hark back to that time, but without the mouth cloying effects. They are buttery and sweet and can be made relatively quickly – certainly as quick as a 1970s packet instruction anyway. Apple crumble biscuits

Cooking time: 1 hour
Makes about 15

• 150gms plain flour
• 100g icing sugar
• 150g almond meal
• 225g butter
• lemon curd

for the crumble topping

• 1 large apple
• 100g raw sugar
• 100g butter
• 200g plain flour
• 1 tspn mixed spice

Sift flour and icing sugar into a bowl then rub through diced butter until a soft dough forms. Roll out to about 5mm and lay in a greased biscuit tin. Spread the top of the biscuit dough with an even layer of lemon curd.

Grate apple and squeeze through a sieve to remove some juice. Place in a bowl with raw sugar and mix. In a separate bowl combine flour and butter and rub together until you reach a fine crumb, mix through apple and mixed spice.

Spread apple mixture evenly over biscuit base and bake for about 50 minutes. Leave to cool then slice into squares. Delicious with vanilla ice cream.