
After the great success of my tomato potluck desserts, I enjoyed musing over the possibility of potato potluck desserts for several weeks. This idea came late and fast: substitute plain potato chips in for the usual flaked almonds in my favourite Florentine recipe. So simple to do, and still so tasty! The potato chips toasted to perfection under the syrupy binding mixture, and the dash of salt was welcome. If anything I would have liked more potato flavour here. There's definitely room to play around with different potato chip brands and thicknesses, as well as the quantity added to the recipe. What a fun, tasty process of refinement that would be.
Potato chip Florentines
(adapted from this recipe by Meera Sodha)
90g thick/ruffled plain salted potato chips, crushed
50g hazelnuts, chopped
100g dried cranberries (or other sour berries)
2 tablespoons plain flour (can be gluten-free)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
75g margarine
50g brown sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons golden syrup
200g dark chocolate
Heat an oven to 200°C. Line a large baking tray with paper.
Chop and crush all the ingredients that need it. Stir together all the nuts, chips, ginger and dried fruits in a large bowl. Stir through the flour, salt and cinnamon until combined.
Place the margarine, sugar and golden syrup in a saucepan and set it over medium heat. Cook the mixture, stirring, until everything has melted together and become smooth. (You can also heat in the microwave and stir together.) Take it off the heat and pour it over the nut mixture in the bowl. Stir it all together to combine, then pour the mixture out onto the baking tray. Form a large rectangle about 1 cm thick; mine was about 30 cm x 22 cm.
Bake the Florentine slab for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown - keep a close eye on it to avoid burning! Allow it to cool completely.
Melt the chocolate using your favourite method and pour it over the flattest side of the Florentine rectangle. Allow the chocolate to set completely at room temperature. Slice the Florentine slab into rectangles or diamonds to serve.