Mongongo Nut Florentines
Annabel Hughes cooks, gardens, and forages in the Zambezi Valley on a farm upriver from Victoria Falls in Zambia. Read her blog at www.SavannaBel.com.
- Servings Makes about 25 cookies (the number will depend on their size)
Ingredients
- Oil or nonstick spray, for greasing baking sheet
- 50 grams (½ cup) all-purpose flour
- 1.25 ml (¼ teaspoon) salt
- 150 grams (1 cup) raisins
- 200 grams (1½ cups) mongongo nuts (or flaked almonds or other nuts), roughly chopped
- 120 grams (4 ounces) butter
- 160 grams (¾ cup) caster (superfine) sugar
- 50 ml (¼ cup) cream
- 150 grams (5.3 ounces) dark chocolate
Preparation
1. Preheat the oven to 180° C (350° F), and lightly grease a baking sheet or nonstick baking liner.
2. Sieve the flour and salt into a large bowl, and then mix in the raisins and nuts.
3. Melt the butter and sugar in a heavy-based saucepan over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved completely.
4. Remove from the heat and stir in the cream. Add to the flour mixture and combine well. (It will resemble a sticky dough.)
5. Scoop out the mixture, a teaspoon at a time, onto the baking sheet, pressing it down into an oval as flat as you can. Be sure to leave ample space between each one because the mixture spreads while cooking.
6. Bake in the middle of the preheated oven, about 12-15 minutes. (Keep a close eye on them; they burn easily.)
7. Remove and cool, quickly reshaping the cookies into circles if they have spread awkwardly. Transfer to a cooling rack, and repeat the process until you have used up all the mixture.
8. Melt the dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl over simmering water, making sure it isn’t in any way submerged. Stir occasionally while it is melting. Remove from the heat after it has melted and cool until the chocolate has thickened a little. Very gently paint the bottom of the Florentine with the chocolate. Allow to cool and set. Store in an airtight container in a cool place.
Annabel Hughes
Annabel Hughes cooks, gardens, and forages in the Zambezi Valley on a farm upriver from Victoria Falls in Zambia. In her blog, SavannaBel, she writes about the joys and challenges of creating, adapting, and executing recipes in a bush kitchen in semi-arid Kalahari sand watered by the Zambezi River. Previously, Annabel worked as a journalist and activist in London and Washington, D.C. She has been published in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and southern Africa, and has worked for CNN International. Annabel moved back to Africa, where she was born and grew up, at the end of 2012.
Courtesy photo
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