Politicalgates Recipes For Christmas 2013.

By Kathleen

It's time to get ourselves into the Christmas spirit and that means sharing our favourite festive season recipes with each other. 

Share your tried and tested Christmas recipes in the comments and I will choose some of them to feature in this post as an update. 

Here is a Christmas Florentine recipe that I came across yesterday while reading The Guardian Lifestyle section. It is super easy and perfect as a last minute homemade present or as a snack after your Christmas Day Meal (if you have any room left, that is). Warning. They are very addictive. 

Ruby Tandoh's cranberry and chocolate florentines recipe:

Makes 16

40g flaked almonds
80g unsalted butter
60g light brown soft sugar
Zest of 2 oranges
40g plain flour
A large a pinch of salt
100g dried cranberries
50g mixed peel
200g dark chocolate

1 Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Toast the almonds on a baking tray for about 10 minutes, or until they have turned golden.

2 While the flaked almonds are being toasted, melt the butter over a low heat. Add the sugar and orange zest, stirring to combine. Remove the almonds to cool, but leave the oven on.

3 In a bowl, mix the flour, salt, cranberries, peel and almonds, tossing to coat the fruit with flour. Add this to the butter mixture and combine.

4 Line a large baking tray with parchment. Using two teaspoons, heap small mounds of the mixture on to the sheet and flatten each one a little. Space them well apart, as they'll spread in the oven. You'll be able to make about 16 florentines with this recipe, so I'd recommend doing them in about three batches – the mixture won't suffer for waiting around.

5 Cook each batch for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges of each florentine are lacy and golden brown. Let them cool for 5 minutes on the tray, gently pushing them into a more circular shape, then slide on to a cooling rack. They'll seem fragile, but as they cool the edges will become crispy while the centre remains gloriously chewy.

6 Break the chocolate into pieces, place in a bowl and heat over hot water until melted. Brush the underneath of the biscuits liberally with the chocolate and leave to set. You can always artistically drizzle any leftover chocolate on top, too, if you want.