🔗The first time I tried one (on a visit to Trier in the
1970s) I couldn’t believe how good they tasted. But it’s taken
until now to get down to the business of actually making them
myself. This is an attempt to recapture that first taste, with
forays 🔗 into Delia, Felicity, Lottie,
Linda, and others.
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Makes 24. Heat your (fan) oven to 180°C. Prep time: 20 minutes. Cooking time: 8 minutes.
Ingredients
- 100 g flaked almonds (or half almonds, half pine-nuts)
- 30 g pistachios | shelled and chopped
- 50 g candied peel | chopped
- 50 g dried figs | chopped (or dried cranberries) [optional]
- 50 g glacé cherries | chopped
- 20 g angelica | chopped fine
- 40 g stem or candied ginger | chopped
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 55 g lightly salted butter
- 100 g Demerara sugar (or half sugar, half golden syrup)
- 2 tbsp double cream
- 120 g dark chocolate [at least 70% cocoa]
Method
While the oven heats, chop the almonds, pistachios, peel, figs, cherries, angelica, and ginger
to roughly even size.
Mix the them together, adding the flour to
stop the bits sticking together.
Melt the butter and sugar in a pan over a low
heat until combined. Do not boil or overheat. When you can
just bear to dip your finger in, stir in the cream.
I haven’t tried using maple syrup instead of golden
syrup. Maple sugar would avoid problems with the syrup being
too runny. (see tip)
Pour into the fruit mix and stir well to combine.
Line two baking sheets with silicone parchment (you’ll
need to cook in two batches unless you have two large baking
trays and a very even fan oven).
Drop the mix in about 10 g (1 tbsp) blobs, spaced as wide
apart as you can because they will melt and flow. Flatten each blob
gently so that they are of even thickness. I fit 12 to my
baking tray, which is as wide as will fit in my oven.
Bake for about 8 minutes. They’re done when they are
bubbling and the edges are just beginning to brown.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Do not try
to move them off the paper or tray because they are
waffer-thin and very fragile.
What you can do, however, but only in the
first two minutes after taking them out of the oven, is to use
a silicone spatula to gently but quickly push the edges
inwards so that each one is an even circular shape, all
roughly the same size.
Once they solidify a bit, slide the silicone parchment out
of the baking tray onto a flat, cold surface. Do
not put the Florentines directly onto a baking
rack until they are completely cold, or they’ll sag and fall
through the holes.
While they go cold, melt the chocolate in a
double basin. Lift each Florentine, turn it over in your hand,
and paint the back evenly with melted chocolate, using a
silicone brush or the back of a teaspoon. Put back on the rack
to solidify, chocolate side up. (see tip)
You can decorate the chocolate with wavy fork marks while
it solidifies, if the back of the Florentines are smooth
enough and the chocolate thick enough.
Serving
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