These were ok.Florentine-cookies square

Not exactly a glowing recommendation, but I promise I will never be anything but honest with you when it comes to the recipes you find here.  These were exactly the way I expected they would be – a delicate, crispy, caramelly almond brittle cookie.  So if that sounds good to you, you should totally make these!  In fact, others who tried these actually liked them quite a bit more than ok, and they disappeared in record time.

But for me, I just love soft, chewy cookies oh so very much, and anything called a cookie that doesn’t have those features is just not going to be a #1 winner in my books.  Perhaps if we called this Lacy Almond Brittle it would be a different story.  That is a lovely name for a lovely treat, and that is something I would make again.  Consider these officially renamed.

Florentine cookies

Or we can just call them Florentines, which is apparently also acceptable, and also quite a pretty name.

These do have a lot of winning features – they’re delicate and super pretty, and they come together in a matter of minutes.  They’re a classic (apparently! I can’t say I had ever heard of them, but that doesn’t mean much :)) and they take very few ingredients, although many call for dried fruit, which I didn’t include.  I’m glad I tried them just because now I know what they are, and what they taste like, and it’s important to learn something new every day. And ok, I also ate more than my fair share of the sweet crispy critters.

Florentines

So tell me, have you had florentines before?  Had you at least heard of them?  If you want to try new things, you should join us for First on the First, it’s fun to get out of your comfort zone in the kitchen :)

5.0 from 1 reviews

Florentine Cookies
 
Print

Prep

Cook

Total time

 

Author:
Serves: 20

Ingredients
  • 1¼ cups sliced almonds
  • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • 2½ teaspoons finely grated orange or lemon zest
  • ⅓ cup granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup (4 tablespoons) butter
  • ¼ cup light corn syrup
  • 1 tablespoon heavy cream (I used 2% milk without a problem)
  • ¼ teaspoon fine salt
  • 4 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions
  1. Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange the racks to divide the oven into thirds. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper (or grease VERY thoroughly) and set aside.
  2. In a small bowl, toss together the almonds, flour, and zest with a wooden spoon; set aside.
  3. Place the sugar, butter, corn syrup, cream, and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir to combine, and bring to a boil. As soon as it comes to a boil, remove the pan from the heat, add the almond mixture, and stir to coat evenly.
  4. Drop heaping teaspoonfuls of the batter AT LEAST 3 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets, 6 per sheet (they will spread during baking – don’t try to fit more or you’ll have a giant lacey puddle!). Using a rubber spatula, pat the batter out into 2-inch-wide circles, spreading the almonds into a fairly even single layer.
  5. Place both sheets in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom and bake until the florentines are light golden brown around the edges, about 3-4 minutes more.
  6. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 2 minutes. Carefully remove from the baking sheets with a thin metal spatula and transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining batter. Allow cookies to cool before drizzling with chocolate – save the parchment paper for when you do the drizzle.
  7. Place the reserved parchment sheets under the cooling rack or put the cooled cookies directly on the reserved parchment sheets. Melt the chocolate chips in a small saucepan over low heat or in the microwave in short increments, stirring frequently. Dip a fork into the chocolate and drizzle it over the florentines in a zigzag pattern.
  8. Let the cookies sit until the chocolate has set, about 30 minutes. Store the florentines in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Notes
I really liked my air-insulated cookie sheet for these, as the ones on the regular cookie sheet got dark much more quickly. If you don’t have an air-insulated cookie sheet, turn your cookie sheet upside down and use it that way.

WordPress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

Recipe adapted from Chow.com

Check out the other florentines below from the rest of the talented participants!