As their name suggests, florentines have their roots in Italy, but are now more associated with French pastry.

Nuts, fruit and the ommission of flour from the list of ingredients are their main characteristics and their chewiness makes them stand out from many of their less pedigreed counterparts.

I'd suggest making them for a special occasion or as a gift for a loved one, though they can also be paired with coffee for an after-dinner treat.

Apricot and almond florentines

Makes about 20

Vegetable oil, for brushing

2 free-range eggs, whites only

100g icing sugar

260g flaked almonds

Grated zest of 1 orange

100g dried apricots, roughly chopped

Set the oven to 150C/gas mark 2.

Line a heavy baking tray with baking parchment and brush it lightly with vegetable oil. Prepare a small bowl of cold water and place it on the worktop.

Put the egg whites, icing sugar, flaked almonds and orange zest in a bowl and gently mix them together. Dip your hand in the bowl of water and pick up portions of the mix to make little mounds on the lined tray, spaced well apart. Dip a fork in the water and use it to flatten each biscuit very thinly. Try to make them as thin as possible without creating too many gaps between the almond flakes. They should be about 8cm in diameter. Lastly, place around four pieces of chopped apricot on top of each florentine.

Bake the biscuits for 12-15 minutes until they're are golden brown. Check the base of one biscuit to make sure they are cooked through.

Allow the Florentines to cool then gently lift the biscuits off the baking sheet with a palette knife. Place them in a cool area to set then store them in a sealed, air-tight jar.