Colourful and festive biscuits

These scrumptious biscuits are called Pabassine or Papassine (depending on the area) in Sardinia, they are very representative of the island and are therefore eaten throughout the entire region,  from Stintino to Olbia and from Arzachena to Cagliari. They are  excellent served with some sweet dessert wine, which is how Sardinians like to eat them. The hundreds and thousands give the biscuits the pretty effect which makes them particularly suitable for this festive season. Some recipes  replace the almonds with walnuts.

250g/ 9 oz of plain flour
90g/ 3 oz  sultanas
100g/3 1/2 oz almonds (of which 70g/  2 1/2 oz   ground and 30g/ 1 oz  chopped)
90g/ 3 oz sugar
90g/ 3 oz butter(softened)
1 egg + 1 yolk (you will need the remaining egg white for the icing)
grated rind of a lemon and an orange, a pinch of salt
For the icing:
100g/ 3 1/2 oz icing sugar
1 egg white
a teaspoon of lemon juice
Hundreds and thousands or silver balls

First of all, leave the sultanas to soak for about ten minutes and dry.
Mix the flour with the butter with the tips of your fingers, then add the egg and the egg yolk, sugar, the grated peel of the lemon and the orange, a pinch of salt, the ground and chopped almonds, and the sultanas. If the mixture appears a little dry add some of the orange juice. Roll out the mixture to a 1 cm 1/2 in thickness then cut into diamond shapes with a sharp knife. Place on a floured baking tray and cook in the oven at 175 C° for roughly 15/20 minutes  until  golden in colour.
To make the icing, whisk the egg whites gradually adding the icing sugar and the lemon juice. When cool cover the biscuits with the icing and decorate with hundreds and thousands and the silver balls.