stem ginger florentines.

florentines are one of my favourite things from our local bakery birds, which has been around since i can remember. if i'd been on the great british bake off, i would have been pretty confident at what one looked like with the amount i've gobbled down. yes even the signature zig zags in the chocolate. 

however, i hadn't the first idea about how to create one. actually not only is this the first i've baked florentines, but it's the first time i've baked along with gbbo. so i looked up a classic french florentine recipe from delia herself (if mary is the queen of baking then delia is the princess, right?) and set about the challenge.

i actually amended the recipe a little and used some stem ginger and candied ginger pieces. i had some ginger leftover from my granola recipe and just fancied it really. 

recipe adapted from delia online.

shopping list.
♥ 25g butter
♥ 75g caster sugar 
♥ 10g plain flour
♥ 65ml double cream
♥ 100g flaked almonds
♥ 40g glace cherries 
♥ 20g candied ginger
♥ 2 tsp stem ginger syrup
♥ 200g good quality dark chocolate. i used cadbury's bournville.

preheat the oven to 190 degrees c.

step one. measure out your nuts, cherries and candied pieces at set aside ready to add later.

step two. melt together the flour, butter and sugar. then gradually pour in the cream. it's good to have this measured out in advance ready too.

step three. mix all the ingredients together. except that chocolate of course, that's a treat for later.

step four. when the mix is room temperature, dollop on a lined baking tray with a few cm apart. hmm... looking okay so far... starting to get a bit concerned about the spreading mixture i popped them in the oven anyway. the recipe says 10-12 minutes so i started with 10.

step five. ten minutes in and the florentines plural have formed into one. giant. florentine. i call her florentine-zilla and allow her to bake for a further 5 minutes until golden.

so probably should have spaced them out a little more or made smaller biscuits... i was pleased with the edges but of course now if i wanted individual florentines (a giant one was tempting...)  i was going to have to cut them out.

step six. if yours have come out individually, skip this bit. use a circle cutter to cut as many out as possible. funny, i started with 10 and now had 12.

step seven. slowly melt your chocolate in a small saucepan on a low heat. 

step eight. coat the florentine with chocolate and then, when cooler, use a fork to create a zig zag effect.

step nine. allow to fully cool. then enjoy with a nice cup of tea. 

i was a little gutted as today was so dreary and the sun seemed to disappear really early. sad times ahead for trying to take pictures in the darker months. 

what do you think? have you been baking along with 2014's great british bake off?

i've added this to the bake along with #gbbo over at supergoldenbakes, get involved here!