I watched these being made as one of the "technical bakes" on an episode of Great British Bake-Off. They looked pretty fiddly. Maybe not as fiddly as brandysnaps or some of the other technical bakes, but still not all that approachable.

It's been a while since I made these, so some of the details have gotten a little fuzzy. But, if I recall correctly, the chocolate was the biggest issue for me. I couldn't get it to coat the bottom nicely and I had trouble getting it to hold the marks from the fork. I think I probably needed to let it cool down a bit more to give it a bit more body and thicken up.

Florentines

From Edmonds Cookery Book

Ingredients

• 150g butter
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 45g honey
• 2 Tbsp. cream
• 130g sliced (flaked) almonds
• 15g soft (plain/standard/pastry) flour¹
• 1/2 c. chopped glacé cherries
• 2 Tbsp. chopped mixed peel
• 150g dark chocolate

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
2. Melt the butter, sugar, honey, and cream in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
3. Reduce heat to low and add the almonds, flour, cherries, and mixed peel.
4. Cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes.
5. Place four 1-tsp. portions of the mixture on each baking sheet and spread each one into 7-cm circle. (They will spread even more in the oven, so don't crowd them.)
6. Bake the trays, one at a time, at 200°C (400°F) for 8-10 minutes. Watch closely as they burn easily!
7. Once the Florentines are then, golden, and bubbling, remove from oven and let cool on pan for 1 minute.
8. Use a spatula or knife to form them into neat circles while they're still a bit soft.
9. Slide the whole sheet of baking paper onto a cooling rack and leave to cool and harden.
10. Bake the next tray the same way and keep repeating the process until all of the mixture has been used up.
11. Once the Florentines are cooled, melt the chocolate and allow it to cool slightly.
12. Spread the underside of each biscuit with a coating of chocolate.
13. Use the tines of a fork to make wavy lines in the chocolate, then set aside so that the chocolate can cool and set.

---

¹ Given how little flour is needed for this recipe, it probably doesn't matter too much whether you use hard or soft flour. I would think that this would also make it an ideal candidate for converting to gluten-free. Simply swap out the plain flour for a 1:1 GF flour! ^Back