• 225g plain flour • 75g ground almonds • 200g honey • 75g butter • 1 tsp ground cinnamon • 1 tsp ground ginger • A pinch of ground nutmeg • 2 tsp cocoa powder • 1 tsp baking powder • ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda • 25g mixed peel, finely chopped • Zest of ½ orange

METHOD:

1. Put all the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir together well. Then add the mixed peel and orange zest.

2. Pour the honey and butter into a pan over a low heat and stir until the butter melts.

3. Pour the mixture into the flour and spices and stir until the ingredients blend to form a stiff dough. Chill for 30 minutes to allow the dough to become firm.

4. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas mark 4.

5. Lightly flour your worktop and then roll the dough out until it’s about 1cm thick. Using any biscuit cutter you like (approx. 5-6cm in size) cut out your biscuits. You’ll get about 15 depending on the size.

6. Place your biscuits on a lined baking tray and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

7. While your biscuits are baking, mix 75g of icing sugar with 3 tsp of water until you have a smooth icing.

8. Remove the biscuits from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once cool, pour over the icing and leave to harden.

9. Enjoy as a mid-morning or afternoon treat!

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COMING JANUARY 2022
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PROLOGUE

July 1938

Cadi sat in front of her bedroom window admiring the lace roses her mother had painstakingly sewn onto her white cotton dress. The Williams’s were a coal mining family, so by no means had they the money to splash out on a new dress or even materials, but Cadi’s mother Jill, who was an excellent seamstress, had used her skills to make a dress out of sheets which she had bought from a jumble sale. Determined to make sure her daughter’s dress was perfect, she had stayed up late every night sewing each delicate stitch by candlelight, and hiding any imperfections with the lace roses she had made from old doilies.

The day of the fete had arrived and Jill had pinned her daughter’s hair into place, so that the crown of roses would sit perfectly when Lady Houghton inaugurated her later that day.

‘This is your day my darling child, and you are going to be the best Rose Queen the people of Rhos have ever seen,’ cooed Jill as she stood back to admire her daughter.

Being the youngest of her three siblings, and the only girl, this date had been marked on the Williams’s calendar for many months, and expectations were high. Especially with her father – Dewi – who couldn’t wait to see his daughter take pride of place in the parade.

Alun, the youngest of her brothers, suddenly appeared from around the side of the curtain which separated Cadi’s part of the bedroom from her brothers.