FLORENTINES are an Italian classic and one of my all-time favourite biscuits with a million-and-one variations to choose from.

They come to my table around Christmas time, and nothing engenders a festive spirit quite like dark chocolate, nuts and plump dried fruits soaked in Jamaican rum.

A classic florentine recipe would include the use of flaked almonds and decorated with glace cherries, however, I like to think of a florentine as a blank canvas for you to play with.

The mixture itself is very easy to make, the harder part is just judging the thickness and quantity to spread on to the baking tray before baking.

A trade tip from me is to use muffins, buns or small Yorkshire pudding tins: this will give you the perfect uniformed shape every time. But be absolutely sure not to overbake them.

A perfect cooked Florentine should be lacy, with small cavities, crisp snap, pale in the centre and gold around the edges - if they cook to too dark a colour they simply taste bitter.

The florentine straddles between a healthy snack and indulgent sweet.

The way I prefer to see it falls in the rare category of being both deliciously satisfying but nutritiously wholesome. Let’s put it simply - enjoy them, after all it is Christmas time, the season to be jolly!

These yummy biscuits are so easy to make and will impress all that try, however I do not make enough of them to give them real justice.

They are very versatile, as you can pretty much put anything that you like in them. The usual culprits are nuts and dried fruits, all coated in dark chocolate.

However, after making my Christmas cakes and festive Stollens I always have a few cranberries, walnuts and flaked almonds left which complement the dark chocolate very well - so putting them together seemed the best option!

The origins of florentines have been rather vague, even though its name may imply that it is from the town Florence in Italy.

It has been debated that it was first invented in the palace of Versailles in Paris specially for the royalties of Florence.

While I cannot be certain where these luxury biscuits first originated, I can be absolutely certain florentines make lovely home-made Christmas presents.

Get your kids involved, of course, they would just love helping you make these delicious treats, especially the part where they spoon the chocolate on top Even though the effort to make them is minimal, they offer great fun especially the licking out of the chocolate bowl!

Happy Christmas everyone!

Florentines were mentioned in a mid-17th century cookbook, A True Gentlewoman’s, but in that book, the recipe described a dessert pie filled with veal and mutton kidneys, cream, sugar, eggs, currants, rosewater and plenty of spices..

• All of Baker Mike’s mouthwatering, written each week for The Ticket in the Keighley News, are available to read on our website. Visit keighleynews.co.uk and click on the “What’s On” box below our masthead. Then click “Food & Drink” followed by “Friend In Knead”.