'>Christmas Ideas & Recipes
Rod’s Festive Countdown… Florentines!
It’s been a busy year at Dineindulge and the private chef team are looking forward to putting our feet up, watching some Christmas films and most importantly eating our body weight in festive treats!
If you’re anything like us, baking them is half the fun so with a little help from our Executive Chef Rod, we’re reinventing the classics to make your Christmas that bit more decadent.
First up is a firm favourite of our Gallic friends across the Channel. Florentines are not only pretty in name but with a colourful array of dried fruits, nuts and chocolate they look irresistible too.
Everyone has their own interpretation however the key to a successful Florentine is having a base mixture which binds the ingredients together without weighing them down or leaving them soggy and a good Florentine should always shatter between your teeth, not stick to your gums!
Over to you Rod…
Dark Chocolate Dipped Cherry, Almond and Ginger Florentine Truffles
These Florentines keep really well in an airtight container so make a few extra now and have a stockpile ready for Christmas… if you can resist eating them all!
You can easily adapt the recipe to include your favourite chocolate, nuts or dried fruits.
Ingredients
(Makes 25-30 pieces)
50g Salted butter (plus extra for greasing)
50g Brown sugar
50g Golden syrup
50g Mixed roasted chestnuts finely chopped
50g Raisins
25g Crystallised or stem ginger chopped
25g Glace cherries chopped
250g Dark chocolate for dipping
Method
- Lightly butter a 10 x 20cm rectangular baking tin.
- Place sugar, golden syrup and butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan and slowly bring to the boil. Continue boiling until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage (1200 C on a sugar thermometer or when you drop a little of the mixture into a glass of cold water it forms a soft ball). Remove from heat.
- Carefully stir raisins, ginger and nuts into the mixture and then pour onto the baking tin to cool.
- Once cool but still slightly soft, turn out on to a chopping board and using a chef’s knife warmed over a gas flame, cut into bite sized pieces. Allow to cool completely.
- Melt the dark chocolate in a bowl and using a fork, dip the Florentine pieces in the chocolate so that they are completely covered. Set aside on a sheet of silicone or non-stick baking paper to cool (don’t store in the fridge or they will “sweat”). Keep in an airtight container.
