Florentine slice

January 4-5, 2025 

   

Michael did some baking for work that left us with half a box of cornflakes. Once some spare time opened up on our summer break I was ready to do some baking of my own, and recalled that my mum had one or two cornflake-based recipes from the Beautiful Biscuits cookbook on regular rotation. When I opened up my op-shopped copy I learned that, in fact, cornflakes are one of the feature ingredients that the book is indexed by and there were six options to browse. I chose the Florentine slice - having had great success with a modernised, vegan version in the past couple of years I was ready to briefly revert to an older style.

As I often do, I made substitutions to suit what was already in my pantry - dried currants instead of sultanas, and salted roasted peanuts when unsalted were specified. I scaled the recipe to neatly use up the cornflakes on hand but have written up the original quantities below. I think I spread my reduced quantity over approximately the same-sized baking tray and as a consequence my slice was rather thin - the original intention is probably a slice 1.5-2 cm thick while mine was half that.  

Then there's the chocolate - even allowing for my quantity adjustment, I think there should be more of it and I've noted that below. The recipe has this slice constructed upside-down, with the melted chocolate being spread thinly across the papered tray and then the cornflake mixture pressed on top of it and baked! I suppose it might yield a smooth chocolate side, but the spreading seemed fraught and I was very unsure about baking the chocolate. I had good results baking the slice right-way-up, chocolate spread after baking, and that's the method I describe below.

Baking Florentines to just the right texture can be a challenge but this recipe worked well, with condensed milk acting as an easy binder and the cornflakes caramelising gorgeously under its glaze. I didn't much like glace cherries as a kid but I've unexpectedly developed a nostalgic fondness for them and I'm glad I used them here.

   

Florentine slice

(slightly adapted from a recipe in
The Australian Women's Weekly The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits)

3/4 cup sultanas or currants

2 cups (160g) crushed cornflakes

1/2 cup roasted peanuts

1/4 cup chopped glace cherries

2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk

185g dark chocolate, melted (consider increasing this)

Line a 19cm x 29cm walled baking tray with baking paper. Preheat an oven to 180°C.

In a medium bowl, mix together all the ingredients except for the chocolate. Press the mixture into the baking tray, using the back of a spoon to even it out and smooth it over as best you can. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the cornflakes have started to brown and smell great.

Melt the chocolate using your preferred method, then spread it evenly over the top of the slice. Allow the slice to cool and the chocolate to set before slicing and serving.