Miniature Florentines Food

FLORENTINES

Steps:

• Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Line a heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper. Stir the almonds, flour and zest in a medium bowl. Stir the sugar, butter, cream, and honey in a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring the mixture to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the almond mixture. Cool the batter for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Using 2 teaspoons of batter for each cookie, spoon 8 mounds of the batter onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing evenly apart (the cookies will spread). Flatten the batter slightly with your finger.
• Bake the cookies until they are lacy and golden brown, about 10 minutes. Gently slide the parchment paper with the cookies onto a rack and cool completely. Transfer the cookies to paper towels. Repeat with the remaining batter, lining the baking sheets with clean parchment for each batch. (The cookies can be made up to this point 2 months ahead. Cool completely, then store airtight in the freezer. Defrost before continuing.)
• Stir the chocolate in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water until the chocolate melts. Spread the melted chocolate over the bottom of 1 cookie. Top with a second cookie, bottom side down, pressing lightly to adhere. Repeat with the remaining cookies and chocolate.

FLORENTINES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C/gas 4. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment.Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a small saucepan over a low heat, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and whisk in the flour then add the cherries, flaked almonds, pistachios and orange zest.
• Scoop 10 flat tbsp of the mixture onto the baking sheets, leaving room for them to spread. You will need to do these in batches. Bake for 10 mins until golden. Leave to cool for 2 mins until firm enough to lift onto a wire rack. Cool completely. Repeat with the remaining mixture.
• Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a simmering saucepan of water or in the microwave in 30 second bursts. Turn the florentines over on the wire rack. Spoon chocolate onto the base of each florentine and gently spread to the edges. When the chocolate is firm enough to hold its shape, use a fork to draw wavy lines across the chocolate. Leave to set and then store in an airtight container.

FLORENTINE BISCUITS

Steps:

• To make the biscuits, put the butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl and beat with an electric whisk until creamy. Add the flour and cinnamon, and combine with a spatula to make a soft dough. Form into a ball, wrap in cling film and chill for at least 1 hr.
• In a saucepan, melt the butter, sugar, golden syrup and salt. Remove from the heat and whisk in the flour, then stir in the cherries and almonds. Set aside to cool and firm up a little. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line a baking sheet with parchment.
• Tip the dough onto a floured work surface and roll out to the thickness of a £1 coin. Using a 6cm fluted cookie cutter, stamp out as many circles as you can, then scrunch up the trimmings, re -roll and stamp out some more. Transfer to the baking sheet, and spoon some of the Florentine mixture onto each biscuit until it's all used up. Bake on the middle shelf for 12-15 mins until the biscuits are golden and the topping has melted. Leave to cool on the sheet for at least 15 mins.
• While the biscuits cool, melt the chocolate in a small heatproof bowl suspended over a pan of gently simmering water, or in short bursts in the microwave. Stir every 30 secs or so to ensure it doesn't burn. Dip each biscuit about a third of the way into the chocolate, then return to the sheet to set. You may need to spoon the chocolate over the final few. Will keep for up to four days in a sealed container.

MINI FLORENTINE CUPS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F.
• Combine all ingredients except turkey.
• Unfold turkey slices; use to line insides of 24 miniature muffin pan cups. Fill with spinach mixture.
• Bake 15 min. or until heated through. Cool 5 min. before removing from pan to serve.

QUICK FLORENTINES

Steps:

• Heat the sugar, honey and butter with the cream in a small pan. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Add the almond flakes and ground almonds, take off the heat and mix everything well.
• Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160/gas 4. Use two teaspoons to form 35 small heaps on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment. Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly caramelised to a golden colour. If the mixtures separates, simply put it back into piles with the two teaspoons.
• Let the florentines cool completely. Melt the dark chocolate in a microwave or a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Using a pastry brush, brush the underside of each florentine with chocolate, place chocolate side up and leave to set.