Ginger Pecan Florentines

These are the most luxurious little biscuits in the world, gorgeous with pears poached in ginger wine (just leave the pears whole, peel but don't core, and poach gently in the wine for about 20 minutes).

Preparation time :	30 min plus cooling
Cooking time :	10 minutes
Total time :	1 hour

Makes: 12

Ingredients

100g butter
100g caster sugar
100g pecan nuts, roughly chopped
2 tbsp raisins
2 tbsp chopped crystallised ginger
3-4 sheets rice paper

To finish
175g good chocolate, milk or dark (optional)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Gently melt the butter with the sugar in a small pan, stirring with a wooden spoon. As soon as it's melted, turn up the heat and bubble for 1 minute. Take off the heat. Stir in the nuts, raisins and ginger.
2. Lightly oil 2 or 3 baking trays, and line with the rice paper. Drop walnut-sized heaps of the mixture on to the trays, leaving plenty of room for spreading. Continue until the mix is used up.
3. Bake for about 10 minutes, until golden brown. Remove and leave to rest for 5 minutes. At this point they'll still be soft and you can neaten the edges with a knife. When they begin to harden, transfer, with their rice-paper bases, to a cooling rack. Leave for at least 20 minutes, until quite cool, then tear off the surplus paper. Serve as they are, or embellish with chocolate. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water.
4. Let it cool a little, then paint over the bases of the biscuits, using a fork to make a wavy pattern. Leave until set, and serve.