A few hours before you bake, set aside a stick of unsalted butter and allow to get to room temperature.

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Bake a cup of slivered almonds in a baking tray until toasted - about 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside in a small bowl.
• With a fork, cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until light in color; beat eggs and add one at a time to butter mixture.
• Mix in the zest of one navel orange and 1 tsp of almond extract.
• Mix in a cup of golden raisins .
• Mix in toasted slivered almonds.
  
• In a separate large bowl mix baking powder and salt with three cups of all purpose flower.
• With a large wooden spatula or spoon, add flour mixture, a cup at a time to the egg mixture and blend well.
• When the dough is too difficult to mix with the spatula or spoon, transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead by hand, adding the remaining flour to the mix as you go along.
  
• When all the flower has been added, knead the dough into a log shape and divide into three equal parts.
  
• Roll each part into a 1 1/2 inch diameter roll and about a 14” long then press that down until you have three loaves about 3" wide and 3/4" thick.
  
• Using two spatulas, place the loaves onto oiled parchment paper in a baking tray and bake for 35 minutes.
• Keeping the oven on, place the three loaves onto a work surface. Using a kitchen towel, hold a loaf down and gently slice it with a serrated bread knife into 1/2” slices. Repeat with the other two loaves.
• Place the slices back on the baking tray parchment paper lying them on their base so that their sides are exposed to the heat of the second bake.

  Put the baking tray back into the hot oven, turn the heat off and bake for at least 20 minutes or until the oven has completely cooled down. ( It won’t make that big a difference to the crunchiness if you leave it that long).
  
• Remove the tray from the oven and when the slices have cooled down and dried, store them in a cookie tin.