If you buy whole almonds there is no need to skin them; the final colour will not be the traditional white but you are keeping more fibre. Process the almonds in an electric coffee grinder until a smooth powder is produced and then put all the ingredients apart from the icing sugar into a bowl and mix them well.

Moisten your hands, take a heaped teaspoon of the mixture at a time and shape it into little flat stars, pears, walnut shapes or any shape you fancy, the size of a mouthful morsel.

Arrange the shapes on a cake stand that has been dusted with some icing sugar and sift more icing sugar all over them. If they are not eaten within two days, they should be stored in a tin as they dry out easily.