Florentine Crispies

Dear friends, brace yourselves to reach heaven. Well, that is if you like white chocolate, and if you don't we may need to reassess this friendship thing. You also need to be a little nutty... (if you know what I mean!) And yes you need to like candied peel. Now I know that this seems to disqualify most of my close friends. But their loss. Myself, my husband, sister and step mother sit and gorge on these. There is a reason that I only cook them once or twice a year! that and the ingredients aren't that cheap. But boy are they a good grown up treat. Gorgeous as a snack, or an after dinner snapple.

These are grown up chocolate crispy cakes with a florentine vibe going on. Regular readers know that contains nuts= a health food in my book and it cancels out the less wholesome nature of any other ingredients contained therein!

With credit to Andrew Garrison Shot's divine book Making Fine Chocolates for the original version of this recipe.


350g white chocolate
50g chopped pistachios
150g toasted almonds, chopped (can use whole almonds with skin on or flaked)
50g rice crispies
100g candied peel OR chopped glace cherries OR dried cranberries

Melt the chocolate gently in a microwave if that's your style, or old stylie in a bowl over boiling water. Be careful: white chocolate can get overheated and ruined very easily.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl, add in the chocolate and use a small ice cream scoop or two tablespoons to shape into bitesized balls (it should make about 40). Leave to set for half an hour.

Store in a locked box!