Annie Bell’s white chocolate florentines

If you’re going to try a recipe for florentines, it should probably be Annie Bell’s. She pays meticulous attention to the recipe details and tests each recipe at least three times so you’ll soon be on your way to florentine success.

Florentines aren’t the simplest of biscuits, which is why I tend not to go overboard on making them, but this is a pared down recipe that shouldn’t tie you in too many knots. This is the cocktail-size version of these dainties, which make a lovely present as well as an after dinner treat.

Ingredients (makes approximately 17):

25g unsalted butter
25g caster sugar
1 teaspoon runny honey
25g plain flour
20g flaked almond
20g diced candied peel
20g undyed glace cherries, sliced
150g white chocolate chips or chopped white chocolate

Tools:

2 non-stick baking trays
Large palette knife
Wire rack
Small palette knife

Little extras:

Unsalted butter for greasing
Plain flour for dusting

Preheat the oven to 170°C fan oven/190°C electric oven and butter and flour two non-stick baking trays. Melt the butter, sugar and honey in a small saucepan, then stir in the flour and straight away afterwards the almonds, candied peel and cherries. Using your fingers, shape half teaspoons of the mixture into flattened patties and place them well apart on the baking trays.

Bake for 8–10 minutes until golden. You may need to turn the trays around at the end to colour them evenly. Leave to cool for a few minutes before loosening the florentines with a palette knife and transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Gently melt half the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Using a small palette knife (or unserrated table knife), coat the underside of each biscuit with the melted chocolate. Leave to set, chocolate-side up, on a wire rack in a cool place for an hour or two. Repeat the process with the remaining chocolate to give two layers, but this time use the tines of a fork to draw waves
on the surface of the chocolate. Leave to harden in a cool place for several hours.

Florentines are at their best freshly made.

Tip: When shaping the mixture into patties, you need to work quite quickly otherwise the mixture will dry out and turn crumbly.

This winning recipe is taken from Annie Bell’s Baking Bible.

And, for more inspiration, have a read of Annie Bell’s 10 top baking tips.