Festive Florentines
I hope you are enjoying the edible gift ideas I have shared and they have inspired you to join in and get baking.
I can’t believe that there is only just over a week of festivities to go, but there is still time for a couple more foodie gift recipes, so lets get cracking. This week I have been making Florentines, a festive treat if ever I saw one. Essentially they are a golden caramel cluster of nuts and candied fruits, dipped into dark chocolate - yum!
There are only a few ingredients in these Florentines; typically they have chopped glacé cherries mixed through, but I have opted out of this ingredient. I find the sweetness of the caramel is nicely balanced with the sharpness of the candied orange without adding more sweetness with the cherries and sometimes less is more.
I used a silicone mini cupcake pan to mould them, as I wanted to keep the Florentines uniform in size and the silicone allows them to peel away easily. If you don’t have one, then just place tablespoons of mixture onto a prepared baking sheet to bake. This will mean they spread out more, but they will still taste amazing.
Festive Florentines
130g caster sugar
70g double cream
70g honey
70g candied orange peel
150g flaked almonds (lightly toasted)
150g dark chocolate (min 70%)
Preheat oven to 170ºC
Put the sugar, honey and double cream into a medium saucepan and on a low heat, slowly bring the mixture up to 118ºC. Use a sugar thermometer to keep an eye on the temperature.
Meanwhile in a separate bowl, mix the flaked almonds and orange peel together.
Once the sugar mixture has reached the correct temperature, take off the heat and add the nuts and orange peel and mix together.
Place a tablespoon of the mixture into your lightly oiled silicone cupcake pan and place in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the mixture turns a light golden colour.
Allow to cool before un-peeling from the tray.
Melt the dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl, over a pan of simmering water (don’t allow the base of the bowl to touch the water).
Dip the base of the Florentines into the melted dark chocolate and leave to cool and set chocolate side up.
Let me know if you have a go at making these golden jewels and tag me on social media if you share some photos, I would love to see. Right off I go for more festive preparations, good luck for yours and I will be back on Friday with one last edible gift post!
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Tip: As there are few ingredients, try to get the best quality you can find so that the flavour is at its finest.
