THE Great British Bake Off has had viewers glued to their screens (and biscuit tins) for five weeks now.

Over the years the show has inspired thousands of people to don their aprons and try their hand at cooking and this year is no different.

Some of the best recipes from the series so far have been released by the Bake Off team, including Lottie Bedlow from Littlehampton’s mouthwatering “quarantine florentines”.

The 31-year-old’s sublime sour cherry, ginger, coconut and almond biscuits were such a hit with judges that they earned the first coveted Paul Hollywood handshake of the show’s 11th series.

But, be warned, any baker looking to attempt this recipe will “need skill” if they are to recreate Lottie’s patisserie perfection.

To get started, the relevant ingredients must first be sought and bought.

These are pistachios (40g), dried sour cherries (60g), crystallised ginger (60g), plain flour (20g), coconut flakes (30g), flaked almonds (120g), salted butter (70g), light muscovado sugar (120g), a pinch of salt and two tablespoons of double cream.

Bakers will also need 125g of 54 per cent dark chocolate and 25g of white chocolate, both finely chopped, to be used as decoration. The recipe also calls for a sugar thermometer, a 5cm round biscuit cutter and three large baking sheets lined with baking paper.

To start baking, the oven must be heated to 200C, or 180C fan. Then, place the pistachios, cherries and ginger in a small food processor and blitz them for a few seconds, until they have been “chopped to a small rubble”. Add the flour to this mixture and blitz the two together in the food processor.

Put this mixture in a bowl and stir in the coconut flakes, along with the flaked almonds. Put this to one side and place the butter, sugar and salt together in a small pan on a low heat.

Cook these, stirring them as little as possible. Instead, move the pan to allow the ingredients to combine, until the temperature reaches 120C on the sugar thermometer.

When it hits this temperature, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cream to make a caramel.

Then pour this caramel over the pre-made fruit mixture and stir until the two are well mixed.

To start forming the biscuits, place the 5cm biscuit cutter on the first baking sheet and place one tablespoon of the mixture into its centre. Press this out until it is an even thickness.

Repeat this 18 times in six different places on each baking sheet allowing plenty of room for the biscuit mixture to spread during baking.

Now, for the baking. The biscuits should cook for between eight and ten minutes or until they are evenly golden brown.

“Watch them carefully – if they are paler in the centre, they may be a little softer and chewy to eat; if they are over-browned, they will be too brittle,” the Bake Off site advises.

Once baked, remove the florentines from the oven and use the biscuit cutter to push the edges into a neat, round shape.

Leave them to cool for five minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to lose the rest of their heat.

They can then be decorated. Place the dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water and leave until melted.

When it has turned to liquid, remove the bowl from the pan. Dip the base of each florentine in the dark chocolate and then leave to cool with the chocolate side upwards.

When this has set, heat the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water until it is melted. Finally, use a teaspoon to drizzle the molten chocolate over the dark chocolate before leaving to set and serving.