This recipe came from a cookbook my grandmother gave me. She may have passed away in 2012, but I've always felt connected to her every time I do a recipe from this book.

You will need:

For the crust
6 tbsp of butter at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 cup flour

For the topping

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup sliced almonds
4 egg whites
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp. Ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375°.
Grease A 9x13-in pan
With an electric mixer cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk, vanilla and cream. Gradually incorporate the flour until you have a cohesive mixture.
Prestonly and evenly into the pan and bake for 15 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven but leave the oven on.
For the top and combine all of the ingredients in a heavy saucepan, cook, stirring constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. Continue cooking until slightly golden brown, about 1 minute more. Pour the mixture over the dough spreading it evenly.
Return to the oven and cook an additional 45 minutes. While still warm score into bars. Once completely cool, cut them into bars.

Cook's notes: I used a 9x13 pan. I found it to be way too large and the topping barely covered all of it. I would suggest using an 8x8 pan or reducing the bake time slightly. Definitely keep an eye on the crust when it's in the oven prior to adding the topping.

The topping is almost like an egg white enriched caramel. The end result is almost like a pecan pie but with almonds. The second round of baking with the topping went much faster than expected. It did not take 45 minutes. It might be the fact that I used a dark pan and that it was spread very thinly. It took closer to 15 to 20 minutes. I can guarantee you you are going to have to adjust your bake time depending upon your oven