Florentines

Nothing says "Christmas" and "eat me" better than biscuits filled with caramel and cherries, and covered in chocolate. In my opinion, any way. Florentines are delicious, and can be made even more festive than usual by using a mixture of red and green glacé cherries, and a pinch of cinnamon.

50g butter

 125ml cream

125g sugar

50g glacé cherries rinsed in hot water and quartered

50 g slivered almonds

1 pinch cinnamon (use your discretion as to the size of your pinch, but remember, the bigger the pinch, the more festive the biscuit)

100g peel

50 g plain flour

250g Whittakers chocolate (preferably at least 60% cocoa solids)

Turn the oven on at 180C and leave to heat up for a while. Maybe treat yourself to a festive tipple while you wait.

Melt the butter, cream and sugar together in a small saucepan over a low heat until it starts to brown and caramelise.

In a large mixing bowl, combine your cherries, almonds and peel. Sprinkle the flour over the top and mix it up.  Pour the melted butter mixture over the top, and give everything a good stir.

Cover a baking tray with non-stick baking paper. Use two dessert spoons to scoop out a spoonful of the mixture and pour onto the baking paper. The florentines will spread, so leave plenty of space in between. You may need to do your florentines in a couple of batches.

Pop your baking tray into the oven, and leave to bake for around 5 minutes. At this point, take them out and use your spoons to push them gently in to circles -the mixture will be quite runny and loose, because of the caramel mixture.

Bake for another 5 minutes or until they start to brown slightly around the edges. Take the florentines out of the oven, and leave to cool for around 3-4 minutes, until you can move them without them falling apart. The biscuits are still quite malleable at this stage, so you can make them into perfect circles if you're a bit of a perfectionist. Pop onto a rack to cool.

Smash the chocolate up into small pieces, and melt gently in a bowl placed over a pan of simmering water. Be gentle with chocolate, it is quite delicate when it comes to heat. Brush the melted chocolate over the smooth sides of the florentines, making sure you get a nice thick layer. If you feel like being super fancy, gently drag a fork through the chocolate to create wavey lines.