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.

Slow Cooker Rice Pudding

Those of you who follow this blog will be aware that we're trying to get Sous Chef J to stop losing weight... with this in mind we've been trying to think of calorific foods that he will eat.  As he has an aversion to certain textures and will only eat when hungry, it's not as easy as it sounds!

So, we thought of rice pudding.  In the slow cooker.  With cream.  Sous Chef J liked the idea and suggested adding dried fruit "so it's healthy"... and this is how we made it.

As is typical for our recipes, we used few ingredients.  This time we needed 100g pudding rice, 1 litre milk, 1 pot (227ml) double cream and a handful of dried fruit.

Having decided to use the slow cooker, we added the ingredients to the pot, gave them a stir and put it on a high heat for the first hour.  After this, we gave another good stir and turned the cooker down to low.

Six hours later, we had a lovely slow cooker bowl full of rice pudding.

Happily, Sous Chef J was more than willing to eat his bowlful of calories and that's what this dish was all about!

(... and it's VERY simple to make too)

Very Chocolate-y Tortes

Sous Chef J was feeling a little better the other day so agreed to a speed shop at M&S 'for food only'... and, as we were already in the area (trying to buy some suitable waterproof boots for him for winter) we popped in.

We stocked up on the 'usual' Gluten Free Chicken and don't-mention-the-mushroom crispbakes as well as salmon fishcakes which were on a 2 packs for £3 offer.  Were unable to get the Gluten Free breaded chicken breasts as the shelf was bare.  Cue my usual gripe about "reliability of availability"...

Luckily I remembered a tweet showing a pic of a dessert we hadn't seen before and, in the blink of an eye, Sous Chef J had located 'said pud'.  M&S describe the dessert as a 2 pack of "rich and velvety Belgian chocolate truffle tortes, made to a flourless recipe."

The Truly Chocolate desserts can be eaten hot or cold.  We went for cold as it was quicker!

The dessert is a very chocolatey offering and, although tasty, the portion size defeated Sous Chef J so we saved half for another time.  Each torte is 100g and contains 445kcal.




J attempted to eat as much as he could but was 'exhausted' after his efforts.  Given that he's been finding it hard to rustle up an appetite recently, the chocolate pud worked to tempt his tastebuds.  Plus, it  filled him with quite a few calories without too much hard work on his part.

We think the tortes would be good served warm and will try them that way next time...