Florentines

We are members of the Sainsbury's blogger Community and were asked about whether we use flaked almonds in our cooking.  Following a gluten free regime, almonds are an ingredient we use lots but we thought we'd try something new.  Having taken time to think of things we like to eat which feature flaked almonds, we decided to see if we could find a new recipe to try.  A quick search of the Sainsbury's recipes online and we found something - a Florentines recipe - which would be a good one to try to adapt to being Gluten Free.

Of course, as those of you who follow our blog will guess, we didn't *quite* stick to the actual recipe as some of the ingredients were tweaked a little.  For starters, we substituted Dove's Farm Plain Gluten Free Flour for the flour in the recipe.  Then, as Sous Chef J doesn't like brazil nuts, we decided to make use of some macadamia nuts.  We also used only raisins and sultanas, omitting the peanuts in the original recipe.  Finally, we were lacking creme fraiche, so used double cream instead.  So, our ingredients were as follows:-

• 50g unsalted butter
• 100g light soft brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Gluten Free plain flour
• 75ml double cream
• 50g flaked almonds
• ¼ teaspoon mixed spice
• 125g raisins & sultanas
• 50g macadamia nuts roughly chopped

The butter and sugar were melted over a low heat.  When fully melted, the flour was added and the mix was brought up to boiling.  Next, we stirred in the double cream and removed the pan from the heat before adding the spice, nuts and dried fruit.

Having mixed the ingredients together well in the pan, we placed tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets lined with silicone sheets.

The florentines were then cooked in a pre-heated oven (160ºC fan) for 10-12 minutes.  BEWARE - they spread out LOTS!

We cooled the florentines on the trays for about 5 minutes before using a palette knife to transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.  The original plan had been to drizzle them with melted dark and white chocolate (per the Sainsbury's recipe) but they were too tasty to leave for long enough for that to happen.

Next time we make these (as Christmas goodies) we'll use less mix in the 'dollops' and WILL drizzle or dip them in chocolate before storing in cellophane bags and giving as gifts.


Disclosure - we were sent a 200g bag of flaked almonds by Sainsbury's, some of which we used in this recipe.