GBBO inspired Ginger and Pecan Florentines

Like many people, I'm sure, I was inspired by 'biscuit week' to make some Florentines but having never made them before, I wasn't quite sure where to start.  Then on Twitter, up popped this recipe

http://www.waitrose.com/content/waitrose/en/home/recipes/recipe_directory/g/ginger_pecan_florentines.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=florentines&stop_mobi=yes

from Waitrose.  Now, ginger is one of my favourite flavours and I also love pecans so thought I'd give it a crack!  Also, I have tried really hard this time to think more about and improve my photos, see what you think!  It is quite a time consuming recipe but the end product is definitely worth it (I am eating one as I type!)

So I followed the recipe on the Waitrose website with just one addition which was a couple of drops of my new ginger extract to boost the flavour...

I started by making sure the pecans and ginger were chopped ready to go and the raisins measured out too.  This was so as not to get in a muddle later on! (It paid off!)

  

I used my pampered chef crinkle cutter which worked really well, much easier to control and monitor the size of pieces!

 

So with everything ready to go I melted the butter and sugar together - always a bit dubious with this sort of thing as I have a tendency to burn things like this!  All went smoothly, though I did put a timer on for the 1 minute bubbling to make sure!

 

Having everything ready to go in was very helpful and I put in my ginger extract followed by the nuts, raisins and ginger.  After a good mix I dolloped onto the baking tray.  As they were quite small dollops I thought I had left plenty of room for spreading but as you can see...this wasn't the case!  Don't panic if this happens though...I just reshaped as soon as they came out of the oven before they set!  I cooked half on a normal baking tray and half on my baking stone - these ones took about 5-8 minutes longer so you just need to keep checking on them!

 

After about 5 minutes they are set enough to transfer to a cooling rack but again you might have to judge this!  Here is where you need some patience!  Leave them to cool completely before melting your chocolate.  I think this is definitely a recipe where it is worth spending a little more on top quality chocolate.  When chocolate has melted, wait again for it to cool a little before spreading onto the bottom of the Florentines.  Then wait again a couple of minutes before using  a fork to create a wavy pattern.  Then wait again for the whole thing to finish setting before turning over, packaging for gifts, or eating!