
Rose and almond biscuits
- Published: 8 Feb 21
- Updated: 18 Mar 24
These buttery almond biscuits, inspired by Spanish polvorones and flavoured with rosewater, are delicious with tea or coffee – or as wedding favours.

This recipe is adapted from A Year of Simple Family Food by Julia Busuttil Nishimura (Plum £18.99).
For another Mediterranean-style cookie flavoured with rosewater, try Maria Elia’s Greek almond biscuits (kourabiedes).
Ingredients
- 125g blanched almonds (see tip)
- 100g icing sugar, plus extra to dust
- 250g unsalted butter, softened
- 300g plain flour, plus extra if needed
- 1 tbsp rosewater
- 1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped, or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- A few pistachios, slivered, and rose petals to decorate
You’ll also need
- Food processor or pestle and mortar
- 2 baking trays lined with compostable baking paper
Method
- Put the almonds, icing sugar and a pinch of fine sea salt in a food processor and whizz until the almonds are ground, but not too fine – it should be about the texture of coarse sand (see tip). Add the butter and continue to whizz until the mixture is well combined. Add the flour, rosewater and vanilla seeds/paste and pulse until everything just comes together, scraping down the bowl with a spatula as you go if needed. Alternatively, do this by hand in a bowl. The mixture should be soft but not sticky – add a little more flour if necessary.
- Roll the mixture into 24 walnut-sized balls and arrange on the prepared trays, allowing room for them to spread a little as they cook. Put the trays in the fridge for 10 minutes for the dough to firm up slightly.
- Heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4. Bake the biscuits for around 15 minutes until just beginning to colour around the edges – they’ll still be a little soft but will firm up on cooling. When still warm but cool enough to handle, roll the biscuits in extra icing sugar, then allow to cool completely. Dust with more icing sugar and press a few pistachios and rose petals on top of the biscuits.
- Recipe from February 2021 Issue
Nutrition
- Calories
- 176kcals
- Fat
- 11.9g (5.7g saturated)
- Protein
- 2.8g
- Carbohydrates
- 14.2g (4.5g sugars)
- Fibre
- 0.5g
- Salt
- trace
delicious. tips
Julia says: “If making the dough by hand, you’ll need to grind the nuts. While it’s much easier to do this in a food processor, you can use a pestle and mortar. Don’t be tempted to substitute store-bought ground almonds – the fine grind won’t give you the desired results.”
The biscuits will keep in an airtight container for up to a week.
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