Florentines with tahini and double chocolate
I have been obsessed with florentines from an early age. I would stalk the delis of West London on the lookout for the Sally Clarke ones, whose thick spread of chocolate would break off on your tongue, a pleasingly fruity, mellow and deep flavour to offset the sweet, nutty underside. This recipe copies the thick, chocolate layer (be generous with that chocolate) and stirs tahini into the mix to give the chopped nuts a pleasingly savoury sesame note. Consider making double as these will fly off the plate. Makes 30.
Ingredients
100g butter
150g light muscovado or light brown sugar
100g golden syrup
2 tbsp tahini
1 tsp salt
40g plain flour
200g flaked almonds
100g pecans, chopped
40g sesame seeds
150g raisins
300g dark or white chocolate (or half and half)
Recipe
Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4. Line three baking trays with baking parchment.
Gently heat the butter, sugar and syrup in a pan until melted. Remove from the heat, stir in the tahini and salt, then fold in the flour, nuts, sesame seeds and raisins.
Shape 30 small walnut-sized balls and place them on the trays with plenty of space between them as they will spread in the oven. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden-brown. Once cool enough to touch, lay out on cooling racks.
Meanwhile, melt the chocolate either in the microwave or by setting a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, without letting the bowl touch the water. The advantage of using the bain-marie method is that you can keep the chocolate warm and melted while you spread it over the florentines.
To temper the chocolate, roughly chop half the white chocolate and break up the other half into the bain-marie. Once the broken half has melted, stir in the chopped chocolate – 26C is the perfect temperature to keep the chocolate smooth and glossy, or else it should feel just warm when touched to your bottom lip.
Working quickly, spread a very generous amount of melted chocolate over the flat base of half the florentines. Leave chocolate side up to set, then repeat with the dark chocolate. Wrap up in bags with ribbons and prepare for the love to flow!
IMAGE CREDIT: Tara Fisher