Blitzens Chewy Amaretti & Almond bites for the grown-ups

Poor Blitzen......why should Rudolf get all the attention? I wanted to devise a little treat for grown-ups over the Christmas period. These Apricot, Amaretti, Almond squares are based on the kiddies Rocky Road. They're chewy thanks to the Rolos & have a little crunch from the addition of Maltesers. I've just upped the anti and given them a little twist and a touch of sophistication for the adult palate. Just leave out the Amaretto if serving to children and perhaps use milk chocolate instead of the bitter dark.

Really easy to make as there's no baking required just a few hours of chilling in the fridge.  They will be perfect with coffee after Christmas lunch instead of the usual Mince Pies or After Eight mints.

Ingredients

200g/7oz good quality 70% solid Dark Chocolate (I used Green & Blacks)
3 tbsp. Golden or Corn Syrup
150g/5oz unsalted butter
2 tbsp. Amaretto liqueur (optional)

Melt all of the above in a large bowl over simmering water. Remove from heat as soon as it's all melted & combined.

100g/3½ oz dried apricots chopped
75g/ 3oz flaked almonds
100g /3½ Amaretti biscuits lightly broken
a packet of Rolos slice them in half
130g approx. 4oz White Maltesers

line a 9"/23cm tin with baking parchment

Reserve around a third of the melted chocolate mixture
Reserve around 20 Maltesers & half of the chopped apricots for the top

Add all the dry ingredients to the melted chocolate and mix well together
Pour over the remaining reserved chocolate
Decorate with the remaining apricots & Maltesers and refrigerate for at least 2 hours but preferably overnight
use a really sharp knife to cut into 20 equal squares.
Stored in an airtight container in the fridge they should keep for at least a week.
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White Chocolate Florentines with Cranberries & Pistachios

White Chocolate Florentines

This recipe should make approximately 12 x 7cm Florentines. I used a silicone muffin tray with 7cm holes to bake mine.(thanks to Ruth @Pink Whisk for this fab tip) Otherwise you'll need good
parchment paper on a greased oven tray, leaving lots of space between each Florentine as they really spread out. I would only make 4/5 to a tray at a time. Of course you could make smaller ones for Petite Fours by just using a teaspoon of mixture per Florentine, should make around 2 dozen with this recipe.   I have also posted the recipe for dark chocolate Florentines at the bottom of the page.
Set Oven at 180c 350f gas 4

1.5 oz /40g butter
2oz 50g caster sugar
1 level tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp double cream
1 tsp lemon juice
4oz/ 100g white chocolate
2oz /50g dried apricots chopped
1.5 oz /40g dried cranberries chopped
1oz /50g chopped pecans
1oz /50 g chopped Pistachios
1oz/50g flaked almonds

Melt the butter with the sugar in a saucepan
Beat in the sieved flour, cream & lemon juice,
Add all the other ingredients, stir well and you're ready to bake.
Bake for approx 15 mins but keep a keen eye on them. They should be golden but not brown.

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over hot water.

When the Florentines are cold remove them from the silicone cases, if you use parchment you can quickly reshape them into neat circles while they are still hot from the oven and then leave until cold.

Coat the backs with white chocolate, leave to set. I usually pop them in the fridge for this.
When set use the remaining chocolate to trickle over the tops.

I estimate that the cost to make 12 Christmas Florentines would be around £3.50 to £4 as the ingredients are quite expensive. I usually make large batches of 48-60 and of course this would cut down the cost substanially as you can use whole packets of everything.


FLORENTINES WITH DARK CHOCOLATE
candied orange peel, almonds & sultanas

Ingredients:- to make around 15
1oz/50g candied orange peel chopped
1oz/50g blanched slivered almonds
1.5oz/40g glace cherries chopped
half an ounce/25g sultanas chopped
small piece around 15g candied angelica chopped (just increase cherries if you can't find this)
1.5oz/40g unsalted butter
1oz/50g caster sugar
1tbsp double cream
1 tbsp plain flour
1tsp lemon juice
6oz/175g 70% really good dark chocolate
Preferably you will need one or two of those non stick silicone muffin trays or good quality baking parchment on around 3 oven trays.
Melt the sugar & butter gently in a saucepan
Beat in the flour, cream and lemon juice
Stir in everything else.
Set the oven to 180c
Place rounded teaspoons of the mixture into the silicone muffin trays or space tsps well apart on the parchment paper ( at least 2" between each)
Bake for approx 12 minutes until golden. Leave in the silicone trays until completely cold. If baked on a tray you can quickly reshape them into neat circles while they are still warm.
When cool coat the backs with melted chocolate. When the chocolate is almost set make wavey lines on the chocolate with a fork.