There’s no time like the Christmas holidays to be able to take breakfast on the slow. The ideal opportunity to savour the most important meal of the day. But we’ve found a way to enjoy our favourite muesli at any time, whether that may be as a decadent treat at coffee time or to enjoy alongside a traditional afternoon tea.
This easy Florentine recipe is also perfect to make as and edible gift. Simply allow the chocolate to set and then wrap in brown paper and tie with a pretty ribbon to gift on the day of baking or store the biscuits in a tin for up to a week.
To make 32 sweet treats using our favourite muesli, you will need…
100 g unsalted butter
100 g golden caster sugar
250 g Dorset Cereal gluten free berry muesli
2 tablespoons double cream – lightly whipped
100g 70 % dark chocolate chopped into small chips*
You will also need:
2 or 3 baking trays line with parchment or silicon paper
Cookie or biscuit cutter 7 cm
Method
Preheat oven to 175 C or Gas Mark 5
To bake in the AGA –
2-oven AGA slide the grid shelf to the floor of the roasting oven, making sure that your plain cold shelf is ready for use. Â
4-oven AGA slide the grid shelf on the fourth runner to bake the Florentines or using AGA cookware, rotate baking trays on runners 2 and 3 to ensure even cooking.Â
Weigh the butter into a heavy based saucepan and place over a low heat to melt. Or pop in the AGA simmering oven.
Add the sugar and stir until it is all completely dissolved.
Weigh the gluten free muesli mix into a large bowl.
Add the buttery syrup and mix well to coat the oats and berries.  Allow to cool.
Lightly whip the cream to soft peak stage and then fold this into the cooled mixture.
Using a teaspoon, scoop the Florentine mixture into equal sized rounded spoonfuls and space these evenly across each baking tray. Take care to allow enough of the mix so you create a uniform thickness that will fuse together once baked but not an overly generous amount that will spread across the baking tray. Once you have made a few, this will become apparent with practise.
Scoop a maximum of six Florentines per sheet as the mixture will spread as it cooks.
Working in batches, bake in the preheated oven for four minutes and then remove the tray from the oven. Carefully draw the edges together using the cookie cutter so that the Florentine resembles a neat rounded shape.
Return the baking tray to the oven for at least one more minute or until the Florentine is a light golden brown. Allow to completely cool on the tray so that it becomes crisp and firm enough to handle.
Gentle melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl resting but not touching a saucepan of hot water. Stir together the chocolate chips together, so that it has all melted and looks glossy. Then spread the melted chocolate onto the flat side of the Florentine. Return the Florentines to the parchment lined baking trays, so that the chocolate will set. Store in an airtight tin or wrap and tie with a ribbon for gifting.
Notes for cooks.
We used our favourite brand of Solkiki made in Dorset (this quantity will be enough to give one coat of chocolate to all of the Florentines but if you want to create an indulgent treat you may want to double this and give each treat a second coat of chocolate, once the first has set).
