Florentine

A sweet preparation consisting of a pastry base topped with almonds, honey and baked.

Its a nutty, chewy snack perfect with a fresh brewed cuppa.

They back to King Louis XII (16th Century), his wife was said to be a well renowned pasty chef who got the recipe along with her to Brittany from Florence.

Ingredients

Sweet pastry

Butter (chilled, diced) 120gm

Icing sugar 80gm

Plain Flour 200gm

Almond meal 30gm

Salt 2gm

Whole Eggs 40gm

Plain flour (For dusting)

Florentine

Butter 360gm

Caster sugar 180gm

Honey 180gm

Almond flakes 410gm

Candied orange (diced) 200gm

Candied cherries (diced) 20gm

Method:

1. Combine the butter, icing sugar, flour, almond meal and salt in a bowl.With the help of your hands start mixing them to form a sandy texture. Alternatively you can use a food processor a quick blitz will do it, the trick is to keep the butter as cold as possible.

Once it resembles a homogenous sandy texture transfer it to a mixing bowl.

2. Add the whole eggs gradually to this whilst mixing to form a dough. Flatten the dough slightly with your palm and store in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.

3. Pre heat the oven to 170 degrees centigrade.

4.Take the pastry out of the refrigerator, sprinkle some flour on a table top. Flatten the pastry with a rolling pin creating a thin sheet (approximately 3mm). Keep dusting the pastry gently with flour as you go (Don't add too much flour). If you find the pastry a bit hard, leave it at room temperature for 15-20 minutes and then start rolling.

5. Use a flat baking tray with narrow edges, with the help of a rolling pin transfer the pastry to cover the base of the tray. Ensure that the entire surface of the tray is covered. If you are not able to cover the entire tray at one go, you can do it one after the other covering 50% of the tray first and then the rest. If you have joined the pastry, use your fingers to gently join them. Knock the pastry with the help of fork. You don't have to trim the edges, its good to leave a bit extra nicely trimmed.

Place the lined tray in the refrigerator for about 25-30 minutes. (This is important as if the pastry is not rested enough it tends to shrink).

6.Bake the pastry in the oven just about 50-60% not cooking it completely.

Take it out of the oven, allow to cool. Increase the oven temperature to 200 degrees centigrade.

7. Combine the butter, sugar, honey in a medium sized bowl, cook on a medium flame.

Once it starts to bubble and turns amber in colour, add in the almond flakes and cherry. Gentle give it a stir and combine evenly while on the flame. Take the sauce pan off the flame.

8. Now gently pour this over the cooled pastry, using a offset spatula level the mixture evenly on the pastry.

9. Return this to the oven and bake at 200 degrees centigrade for about 7-8 minutes till you see a nice golden colour.

10. Once the florentine has completely cooled down, de-mould by slightly lifting one corner and placing it on a chopping board. Using a serrated knife cut squares measuring approximately 5cms.

Enjoy 😋