Great Mothers Day Gift

After several hectic weeks at work, home and away, I finally get some time back to cook!
Although I don’t have a sweet tooth, there’s one cookie I can’t resist, Florentines!

Traditionally eaten at Christmas time in Italy, and sometimes at Easter, this chewy little biscuit will tell you to put your diet on hold.

Whenever I drop into the local baker’s shop I always look to see if they’re on the shelf, if they are I can’t resist!

So with Mother’s Day in mind I thought I’d make a batch of these colourful little gems.

As I often wander around the numerous charity shops in our county I remembered I’d picked up a Cadbury’s Chocolate Cookbook in the British Heart Foundation shop for 50p!

It’s about 30 years old, perfectly preserved, (all my cookbooks have food residue on the pages) and perfect for the job in hand. I just added my own selection of nuts. I didn’t use the double cream as suggested (keeping the calories down) instead I opted for crème fraiche.

Instead of butter I used a low fat spread. I did however, use the chocolate with 70% cocoa solids, as this gives the Florentines the richness it deserves.

As we are doing the birthday bash for the son this weekend, these will go down nicely as part of the dessert.

Hope he remembers the flowers on Mother’s Day!

Here’s the recipe
Makes 15 cookies
Prep Time 10 mins
Cooking Time 15 mins
Ingredients

• 50g/2oz Low fat butter spread or butter, your choice (see Cook’s tips 1.)
• 50g/2oz Caster sugar
• 50g/2oz Blanched Almonds, finely chopped
• 25g/1oz Glace cherries, roughly chopped
• 20g/ ½ oz Flaked Almond slivers
• 20g/ ½ oz Hazelnuts, finely chopped
• 25g/1 oz Mixed peel
• 40ml/1 tbsp Low fat crème fraiche or whipped double cream, your choice
• 150g/6oz Dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

Method

• Melt the low fat spread in a medium size saucepan, add the sugar and stir
• Bring slowly to the boil, stirring frequently
• Add the nuts, cherries and mixed peel
• Stir in the crème fraiche to heat through, but don’t let it boil
• Lay the Bakewell paper on the baking trays
• Put a teaspoonful of the mixture onto the trays, spaced well apart
• Flatten the biscuits down with a palette knife of use the back of a large spoon
• Bake in a pre heated oven 180°C/350°F/Gas mark 4 for about 10 minutes, until they’re golden brown
• Remove them from the oven and allow to cool slightly
• Carefully remove them from the baking trays, using a palette knife
• Place on a wire rack to cool completely
• Break the chocolate into pieces and place in a basin over a saucepan of slightly simmering water to melt, stir frequently. Make sure the base of the bowl doesn’t touch the water
• Once the chocolate has melted, spread over the smooth sides of the Florentines to cover them completely and leave the chocolate to slightly cool
• Once the chocolate begins to set, use a fork to make to the swirls

Cook's tips

• 1. I used Bertolli

Equipment

• Heatproof bowl
• Saucepan
• 2 Large baking trays
• Bakewell paper

Shopping List

• 50g/2oz Low fat butter spread or butter
• 50g/2oz Caster sugar
• 50g/2oz Blanched Almonds
• 25g/1oz Glace cherries
• 20g/ ½ oz Flaked Almond slivers
• 20g/ ½ oz Hazelnuts
• 25g/1 oz Mixed peel
• 40ml/1 tbsp Low fat crème fraiche or double cream
• 150g/6oz Dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

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