These dreamy, creamy vanilla and apricot bite-size canapés are gluten-free and make the perfect finger-food for festive celebrations. As time is needed to allow ingredients to cool, it may be best to start preparing these the day before!

• A perfect marriage of fruit, nuts and flavour
• Will keep for 3 days in a sealed container in the fridge
• Vegans can use whipped coconut milk instead of mascarpone, and soya margarine instead of ghee

Ingredients    Ground Almonds, Organic 250g (Infinity Foods) 75g Ground Almonds    Organic Chickpea Flour, Gluten-Free (1kg) - Sussex Wholefoods 50g Chickpea Flour    Organic White Rice flour (1kg) - Sussex Wholefoods 50g Rice Flour    Organic Coconut Sugar (1kg) - Sussex Wholefoods 125g Coconut Sugar    Organic Ghee 300g (Pukka) 60g Ghee    Himalayan Rose Pink Fine Salt 500g (Profusion) a pinch    Organic Apricots 500g (Sussex Wholefoods) 20 Apricots    Vanilla Pod (Hampshire Foods) 1 Vanilla Pod    Unsalted Pistachios (250g) - Sussex WholeFoods A handful of Pistachios

Other Ingredients

• 250g Mascarpone

Method

1. Add 100g coconut sugar to 300ml water and heat to dissolve
2. Slice the vanilla pod lengthways down the middle and scraped the seeds out. Add these and the pod, sliced into four, to the pan
3. Add 20 apricots and simmer for 20 minutes
4. Allow the mixture to cool
5. Remove the apricots from the pan and whizz up in a food processor with the mascarpone
6. Preheat the oven to 180ºC
7. Lightly grease the holes in a mini-muffin tin (we used a 24-hole tin – you can use a tin for larger muffins, but bear in mind that gluten-free pastry can be brittle, so there will be more chance of the bases falling apart!)
8. Cream together the ghee and 25g coconut sugar
9. Add the chickpea flour, rice flour, ground almonds and a pinch of salt and mix well to form a dough. A few splashes of cold water can be added at this point if the mixture is too dry.
10. Cut the pastry into 20 equal pieces. Gluten-free pastry is delicate, so it’s easiest to make the bases by taking a lump and then squidging it evenly around the hollow with your hands.
11. Bake for 15-17 minutes until the pastry has browned. Watch them carefully, though, as each oven is different, and it’s important to judge visually the point at which they’re done, without letting the bases get overdone.
12. Leave the bases in the tin until cool. You can use a butter knife around the edge of each base before tipping out, but this may cause them to crumble and it may be better to apply gentle pressure from the inside with your fingers to loosen them before simply sliding them out.
13. Use a piping bag to pipe the apricot/mascarpone mix onto the bases
14. Top with chopped pistachios and serve!