BBC Good Food

04 May 2009

Tested

"If you only got 8 florentines, you made them too big! You only need to put a tiny bit down, I use a cutlery teaspoon and fill it 1/2 full or less. Remember that they will spread out while baking, and that you'll be making them more substantial by adding a layer of chocolate. Further comments, after making a batch with half (faux) milk chocolate and half dark chocolate, which was wolfed down by my family: dark chocolate wins hands-down. A 100g bar of Lindt 70% does the job beautifully. I haven't tried it with sultanas yet, raisins have certainly been fine so far, but I plan to."

26 March 2009

Tested

"I found that 100g chocolate was sufficient, and I skipped the allspice and chilli. I used 50g dark chocolate and 50g non-dairy "milk" chocolate, and Pure soya margarine. The microwave is the easiest way to melt the chocolate but watch it carefully, as a minute may be sufficient. You want to get it to the stage where some of the pieces of chocolate just about still have their shape but lose it when you give the chocolate a stir; any further and the chocolate will burn. The really important thing this recipe leaves out is rice paper. I used greaseproof paper, and ended up having to eat rather a lot of it as the florentines stick firmly! For my second attempt, I used four sheets of rice paper, cooking the florentines in two batches. Otherwise a good version of a classic recipe. Note that while it's very quick to make, the chocolate takes hours and hours to set again. I put the florentines in the fridge once the chocolate had firmed up a bit."