Festive Florentine Crescents Recipes

FLORENTINES

Steps:

• Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Line a heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper. Stir the almonds, flour and zest in a medium bowl. Stir the sugar, butter, cream, and honey in a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring the mixture to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the almond mixture. Cool the batter for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Using 2 teaspoons of batter for each cookie, spoon 8 mounds of the batter onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing evenly apart (the cookies will spread). Flatten the batter slightly with your finger.
• Bake the cookies until they are lacy and golden brown, about 10 minutes. Gently slide the parchment paper with the cookies onto a rack and cool completely. Transfer the cookies to paper towels. Repeat with the remaining batter, lining the baking sheets with clean parchment for each batch. (The cookies can be made up to this point 2 months ahead. Cool completely, then store airtight in the freezer. Defrost before continuing.)
• Stir the chocolate in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water until the chocolate melts. Spread the melted chocolate over the bottom of 1 cookie. Top with a second cookie, bottom side down, pressing lightly to adhere. Repeat with the remaining cookies and chocolate.

FLORENTINES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C/gas 4. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment.Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a small saucepan over a low heat, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and whisk in the flour then add the cherries, flaked almonds, pistachios and orange zest.
• Scoop 10 flat tbsp of the mixture onto the baking sheets, leaving room for them to spread. You will need to do these in batches. Bake for 10 mins until golden. Leave to cool for 2 mins until firm enough to lift onto a wire rack. Cool completely. Repeat with the remaining mixture.
• Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a simmering saucepan of water or in the microwave in 30 second bursts. Turn the florentines over on the wire rack. Spoon chocolate onto the base of each florentine and gently spread to the edges. When the chocolate is firm enough to hold its shape, use a fork to draw wavy lines across the chocolate. Leave to set and then store in an airtight container.

QUICK FLORENTINES

Steps:

• Heat the sugar, honey and butter with the cream in a small pan. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Add the almond flakes and ground almonds, take off the heat and mix everything well.
• Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160/gas 4. Use two teaspoons to form 35 small heaps on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment. Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly caramelised to a golden colour. If the mixtures separates, simply put it back into piles with the two teaspoons.
• Let the florentines cool completely. Melt the dark chocolate in a microwave or a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Using a pastry brush, brush the underside of each florentine with chocolate, place chocolate side up and leave to set.

FESTIVE FLORENTINE CRESCENTS

Steps:

• Thaw the spinach and drain well. Cube the Velveeta. Cook the bacon and crumble.
• Combine spinach, Velveeta, bread crumbs and bacon in a medium saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until Velveeta is melted.
• Unroll the crescent roll dough and separate into 16 triangles. Cut each in half lengthwise, to make 32 triangles.
• Spread each triangle with about 1 teaspoon of cheese mixture. Roll up, starting at wide end. Place on a greased cookie sheet.
• Bake at 375 degrees for 11-13 minutes, until golden.