The Florentines Challenge

After last week’s fail, I was determined to come out smelling like a rose for this challenge. Florentines. Now, I’ll have to admit, I had no idea what the heck Florentines were before beginning this blog. For all intents and purposes, aka the British, it’s a biscuit. However, for all of you Americans out there, it’s a thin, crunchy cookie.

Since I was working off another British recipe (I couldn’t find a satisfactory American version), I had to again carefully convert and measure out all of the ingredients. This time I elicited the help of my husband. He has been a great resource since, being from New Zealand, he has a better understanding on the ins and outs of the different ingredients and ways of measurements. (Better, but not perfect.) This spurred on a whole discussion as why Americans say “1/4th” cup instead of “quarter” cup.

In Mary Berry’s recipe, the ingredients included Demerara sugar, golden syrup, and candied peel. If you’re as confused, welcome to the club. I got as close as I could to substituting these items, because, again, I could not find these in the grocery store to save my life. Demerara sugar was substituted for brown sugar. Golden syrup was substituted for corn syrup. (My husband informed me afterwards that golden syrup is NOT corn syrup…thanks, my dear). I was somehow sure that I could find the candied peel, but, alas, I could not. So, candied peel was substituted for glazed pineapple. (The internet said I could!)

They’re pretty tricky to make, really. To get absolutely perfect like that. They have a sort of “lacy” appearance and delicate. If they get the chocolate on at the right temperature, it doesn’t leak through.” ~Mary Berry (Season 1, Episode 2)

The contestants were given 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete the challenge.

The first part of the recipe was to finely chop up the nuts and fruit. After careful measurement, each ingredient in turn was chopped via food processor. In retrospect, I may have been too overzealous in the chopping for the nuts resembled sand and the candied fruit resembled…jelly.

 

 

 

After prepping the nuts and fruit, I went to the stove to start making the caramel. As I poured the corn syrup in, my husband noticed that I had bought “light” corn syrup…I didn’t even know they made “light” corn syrup. Aw well, the damage was already done. Let’s just say I meant to put “light” corn syrup in to the recipe. I’m watching my waist line.

I was very satisfied with how the caramel turned out, and after taking it off the heat, I added the rest of the prepared ingredients.

I spooned out 18 teaspoons of the batter on a cooking tray, 6 at a time, and placed them in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. The recipe said that they were ready to come out when they reached a golden brown color. Once I felt each tray was ready, I pulled them out and allowed them to cool on a rack. I believe after each tray was pulled out, a cackle of joy could be heard coming from the kitchen. I was really excited! The batter had spread and thinned out on the baking tray and the cookies had turned into a nice “lacy” texture that would have made Mary Berry proud!

The last step was to temper the 70% cocoa bars and to apply them to the backs of each of the cooled cookies. Half of the chopped up chocolate went into a heatproof bowl, which was then placed on top of a pot full of simmering water. Patience was key here for me. The chocolate took its dear sweet time melting. (Mind you, at this point, it was past dinner time and I was getting a tad “hangry”.)

Once the chocolate was melted, I took it off the heat and added the rest of the chocolate to the bowl and stirred until everything had melted. Tediously, I spread a thin layer on each of the cookies. None of the chocolate seemed to be oozing out of the holes, and for that I was happy.

The signature “zig-zag” on the back of the cookie looked like the easiest part. So, with absolute confidence (and perhaps a wee bit of cockiness) I grabbed a fork and applied my version of a “zig-zag” to the victim cookie. It instantly disappeared into the chocolate…alright, perhaps the chocolate hadn’t cooled enough yet. So I waited for another minute and tried again. This time the “zig-zag” stayed, but I wish it hadn’t. It was hideous! I tried again on a different cookie and received the same result. Clumps of chocolate cake up from the markings in a not-so-attractive way. By the 17th cookie, I didn’t care anymore. I was just ready to be done.

now was the moment of truth! The taste test! In the episode where this challenge was featured, there was a defining crunch in the biscuit as Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood gave them a taste. That crunch was what I was aiming for in my bake. The edges themselves had a nice crunch but the center was more chewy than crunchy. So, they weren’t perfect, but they were absolutely delicious!

Challenge #2 Mary Berry’s Florentines: Success!

Time: 2 hours

Next Challenge: Ciabatta