Sticky Toffee Florentines

The Great British Baking Show is one of my favorite shows on television. Not only is it fun to watch, but it is also even more fun to try to replicate some of the things they make. The format is perfect, a Signature challenge – picked by the contestant, a technical challenge – picked by the judges, and a Showstopper challenge – theme picked by the judges. The show provides laughs, cooking pointers and plenty of mouth watering visuals. Only the British can turn something like baking into not just an art, but also entertainment! I recall a joke from several years ago: “How do you torture a Brit? Answer: Sit them in front of a television and force them to watch any American remake of a British television program.” In the U.S. our baking shows are rather uninteresting and seem dumb to me.

Season 8 of the Baking show is out. Episode number 2 was Biscuit week. In the U.S. we would call this cookie week! For the technical challenge, Peter, a 20 year old accounting and finance student from Edinburgh, made Sticky Toffee florentines.

Sticky toffee pudding is amazing. It is so rich and delicious. It has figs in it, which is an unusual ingredient here in the U.S. I remember working in the U.K. a number of years ago. My colleagues and I were working with some local people on a joint audit of operations for one of our subsidiaries. At the end of the work, the head of the U.K. office volunteered to take us all out to lunch – my choice of restaurant. This was outside of Birmingham, so not necessarily the greatest selection of restaurants. I asked to go to Harry Ramsden (famous for fish and chips). One of the accountants we had worked with was from a large accounting firm out of London. He had let me know he had graduated from one of the best Universities in the country and implied a good socio-economic background. (I didn’t care – even Hyacinth answered the phone – “The Bucket (pronounced Bouquet) residence” – on Keeping Up Appearances.) When I asked to go to Harry Ramsden this accountant rolled his eyes – it was obviously not posh enough. After we had our lunch I asked for sticky toffee pudding for dessert. The accountant excused himself and went outside – clearly as an “American” I had descended too far. So much for my impressing the locals.

The thought of having a florentine cookie with these flavors is enticing. Paul Hollywood, one of the judges, said he had never tasted these flavors in a biscuit before. He gave it good marks. I searched on line for a recipe, to no avail. I watched the episode again and made notes of what Peter had used for ingredients.

The key for his sticky toffee florentines was caramelized white chocolate. To my knowledge, I had never tasted caramelized chocolate and had certainly never made it. Undaunted, I researched and came up with the following recipe.

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Peter used sultanas in his florentines. Not having these readily available, I used golden raisins.

After combining the cookie ingredients, I had 12 cookies ready to bake. They spread quite a bit in the pan, but I just cut them apart.

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Next I made the white chocolate. It is a simple process, but takes some time.

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The caramelized chocolate looks terrible when it is in the oven. It even smells bad. After it reaches a slightly golden color it will puree into a nice rich sauce, with a definite toffee taste.

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I opted to spread the caramelized chocolate on the cookies. Dipping them tends to give the cookie more white chocolate and I did not want the toffee taste to over power the other flavors. Likewise too much dark chocolate would over power the other flavors.

The cookies may not be exactly like Peter’s, but they are delicious. Paul Hollywood would probably not give me one of his famous handshakes for a job well done, however, I achieved one thing Peter did not with his recipe – a snap! Happy eating!

Sticky Toffee Florentines

Ingredients:

Cookie:
3 ½ tablespoons butter
3 ½ tablespoons turbinado (sugar in the raw) sugar
3 ½ tablespoons lite corn syrup
3 ½ tablespoons flour
1/3 cup finely chopped dates
1/3 cup finely chopped golden raisins
1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/3 cup finely chopped almonds

Caramelized White Chocolate Topping:
1 cup white chocolate chips
½ cup dark chocolate chips
1 teaspoon almond or regular milk – warm
Pinch of sea salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Melt the butter and sugar in a small saucepan. Use a lower temperature to allow the butter to slowly melt and the sugar to dissolve.
3. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the flour, mixing well to avoid lumps, then add the dates, raisins, walnuts and almonds.
4. Spoon teaspoon sized balls of the mixture onto a parchment lined baking tray. Ideally the spacing should allow for the mixture to spread.
5. Bake, using the middle rack of the oven, for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown. If your oven has a heating element at the bottom, be sure your baking tray is several inches away from this element, otherwise the dates and raisins will burn.
6. Allow the cookies to cool completely.
7. Reduce the oven temperature to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
8. Spread the white chocolate chips in the bottom of a baking dish.
9. Melt the white chocolate chips in the oven for 10 minutes.
10. Using a clean and dry spatula, spread the melted chips on the bottom of the baking dish.
11. Return the white chocolate to the oven and stir every 10 minutes, until the chips have a slight golden color. This could take about 30 – 45 minutes. The chocolate will look terrible. It will be rough in texture and appearance. Do not be concerned about this, just achieve a slightly golden color.
12. Remove the white chocolate from the oven. Place in a small bowl. Add the warm milk and the pinch of sugar. Using an emulsion blender, blend the chocolate until it is a smooth consistency.
13. Dip or spread the chocolate mixture on each of the cookies. If dipping, double the amount of white chocolate and the milk.
14. Place the dark chocolate in a small glass bowl and heat in the microwave for 1 minute or more until melted and smooth.
15. Using a plastic sandwich bag. Snip one of the corners, do not make too large of a snip.
16. Fill the plastic bag with the melted chocolate. Pipe the chocolate on the cookies.

Makes 12 large cookies or 18 medium cookies.