Florentine mazurek is a wonderfully decadent, packed with dried fruits and nuts, making it perfect for the upcoming Easter celebrations. Its name comes from Florentines – chewy almond cookies with dried fruit – which are baked on top of a delicious shortcrust base. The result is rich, satisfying bake, easy to divide into portions, and it also keeps well for quite a long time (up to 10 days). Let’s make it a tradition – Florentine mazurek is simply wonderful and deserves a place on every Easter table :).
Ingredients for the shortcrust base:
- 200 g plain flour
- 50 g ground almonds
- 50 g icing sugar
- 100 g cold butter
- 3 egg yolks (from large eggs)
- finely grated zest of ½ orange (unwaxed, preferably organic)
- a pinch of salt
Sift the flour, add the ground almonds and butter, and chop together with a knife until the mixture resembles crumbs. Add the egg yolks, icing sugar, orange zest and salt. Quickly knead; you can also prepare the dough in a food processor until it forms a ball. Flatten slightly and wrap in cling film. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
Line a 23 × 33 cm rectangular tin with baking parchment. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge, roll it out and transfer it to the tin. Chill again in the fridge for 60 minutes. Just before baking, prick the base all over with a fork.
Pre-bake the base at 180°C for about 12 minutes. Remove from the oven.
Ingredients for the Florentine topping:
- 200 g flaked or slivered almonds
- 100 g raisins or dried cranberries
- 50 g candied cherries, roughly chopped
- 50 g candied orange peel
- 50 g plain flour
- 120 g butter
- 120 g sugar
- 50 ml double cream
In a saucepan, melt the butter with the sugar. Heat, stirring, until both dissolve, then simmer for 1 minute. Remove from the heat, pour in the cream and leave to cool slightly.
In a bowl, combine the candied cherries, orange peel, raisins, almonds and flour. Add the slightly cooled butter, sugar and cream mixture and stir until everything is well combined. Spread the topping evenly over the pre-baked base, smoothing it out with a spatula.
Bake the Florentine mazurek at 170°C for about 10–12 minutes, or until golden brown. Towards the end of baking, keep an eye on it so the almond topping browns nicely. Allow to cool before slicing.
Enjoy!
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