Almond Florentines Recipes

FLORENTINES (ITALY)

Steps:

• Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
• Pulse the almonds in a food processor until finely chopped, but not pasty. Stir together the nuts, flour, zest and salt in a large bowl.
• Put the sugar, cream, corn syrup and butter in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a rolling boil and sugar is completely dissolved. Continue to boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla, then pour mixture into almond mixture and stir just to combine. Set aside until cool enough to handle, 30 minutes.
• Scoop rounded teaspoons (for 3-inch cookies) or rounded tablespoons (for 6-inch cookies) of batter and roll into balls. Place on prepared baking sheet, leaving about 3 to 4 inches between each cookie since they spread.
• Bake 1 pan at a time, until the cookies are thin and an even golden brown color throughout, rotating pans halfway through baking time, about 10 to 11 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve.
• Optional chocolate topping: Put the chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Bring a saucepan filled with 1 inch or so of water to a very low simmer; set the bowl over, but not touching, the water. Stir the chocolate occasionally until melted and smooth. (Alternatively, put the chocolate in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Melt at 50 percent power in the microwave until soft, about 1 minute. Stir, and continue heat until completely melted, about 1 to 2 minutes more.)
• For sandwiches: Drop about 1/2 teaspoon chocolate onto on the flat side of half of the cookies and press together with remaining halves. Return to rack and let chocolate set.
• For chocolate decor: Drizzle melted chocolate over Florentines as desired. Set aside at room temperature until chocolate is set.

ALMOND FLORENTINES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment and brush with butter. Mix the butter, egg whites, sugar and flour until smooth, then add the almonds. With wet fingers or the back of a spoon, flatten tbsps of mixture into 16 biscuits on the sheets. Bake for 15-18 mins until golden. Cool. Will keep in an airtight container for 2-3 days - put pieces of parchment between to stop sticking.

ALMOND FLORENTINES

Steps:

• Lightly grease a cookie sheet.
• Arrange graham crackers to fill sheet.
• Melt butter in saucepan and heat it with brown sugar over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. DO NOT BOIL.
• Spoon mixture over graham crackers.
• Sprinkle with almonds.
• Bake in preheated oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 7 minutes.
• Open door and turn off oven; cool in oven for one hour.
• Cut while still warm, otherwise they will stick to pan.

ALMOND FLORENTINES

Steps:

• Position rack in center of 350 oven. Line baking sheet with silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Pulse almonds processor until finely chopped, but not pasty. Stir together nuts, flour, zest and salt in large bowl. Put sugar, cream, corn syrup and butter in small saucepan. Cook on medium, stirring occasionally, until mix comes to boil and sugar is completely dissolved. Continue boil for 1 min. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, then pour mix into almond mix and stir to combine. Set aside until cool to handle, 30 min. Scoop rounded tspns (for 3in cookies) or rounded tblspns (for 6-in cookies) of batter and roll into balls. Place on baking sheet, leaving 3 to 4 in between cookies since they spread. Bake 1 pan at a time, until cookies are thin with even golden brwn color throughout, rotating pan halfway through bake time, about 10 to 11 min. Cool on bake sheet for 5 min, then transfer to rack to cool. Optional chocolate topping: Put chocolate in a med heatproof bowl. Bring saucepan filled with 1 inch water to low simmer; set the bowl over, but not touch water. Stir chocolate until melted and smooth. Can also do in med microwave-safe bowl. Melt at 50 percent power in microwave until soft, ~ 1 minute. Stir, continue heat until melted, ~1 to 2 minutes more. tip: Store cookies separated by waxed paper, in airtight container for 3 days. Florentines best stored separated from moist cookies and cakes.