So I was planning for a picnic on Blackheath Common last weekend and I wanted to make some biscuits to nibble on.I had a quick fan through the great Green & Black "Unwrapped" chocolate cookbook (buy it from Amazon) and a recipe for florentines caught my eye.
There was a company called Fudges at the Taste of London this year who were giving out samplers of their florentines and they were pretty amazing, so I jumped at the chance to try and make my own...
Ingredients
- 50g unsalted butter
- 125ml double cream
- 125g granulated sugar
- 40g glace cherries, washed and quartered
- 150g blanched almonds, chopped
- 50g flaked almonds
- 100g candied orange peel (or cut mixed peel)
- 50g plain flour
- 250g dark chocolate (at least 60% cocoa solids)
Equipment
- Medium saucepan
- Mixing bowl
- Sieve
- 2 baking sheets
- 7cm biscuit cutter
- Palette knife
- Wire rack for cooling
Recipe
To make the sticky biscuit base gently heat 50g unsalted butter, 125ml of double cream and 125g granulated sugar together in a saucepan.Once they've melted together bring it to a boil, then remove from the heat and mix in 40g of quartered glace cherries, 150g chopped blanched almonds, 50g flaked almonds, 100g candied orange peel and sift in 50g plain flour.
Pre-heat the oven to 180C then butter 2 baking sheets and cover with a light coating of sifted plain flour.Put large teaspoons of the mixture onto the baking trays, leaving plenty of room between them as they'll double in size while they cook. Bake them for 5-6 minutes then remove from the oven - they'll spread out a bit so coax back to their original size using the biscuit cutter.
Put them back into the oven for another 5-6 minutes until the edges start to change colour, then remove them and let them cool on the trays for a couple of minutes. Once they've firmed up a bit move them to a wire rack using a palette knife or similar and allow to cool fully.
Wait for the biscuits to cool completely then heat 250g of dark chocolate over a saucepan of simmering water. Mmmm, chocolate...
Cover the biscuit bases in the melted chocolate and put them in the fridge to cool. Serve with a jug of Pimms in the park.Overall they were pretty tasty. The chocolate melted a bit quickly, but then it was a really warm day and we'd been in the park a couple of hours before we started munching on them. I'd suggest keeping them in a cool bag to avoid disappointment.
Oh, and the picnic went well. There were a few other things I made that I'll post in the next few days.
