Originating from Italy, the Florentine cookie is a delicate, sweet biscuit made of a delicious candied mixture of crushed nuts, butter, and sugar. Thin and crispy, the Florentine cookie’s lacy surface is coated or drizzled with a light coating of milk or dark chocolate. These candy-like cookies can be sandwiched together between a layer of chocolate for an extraordinarily decadent, buttery toffee treat. Our Florentine cookies make an outstanding dessert that will appeal to all ages.
Florentine Cookies
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cup blanched almonds, cashews or pistachios
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 5 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Supplies
Directions
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.
Place the nuts in a food processor. Pulse until they are finely chopped.
In a medium bowl, add the chopped nuts, flour, and salt. Mix well.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, add the sugar, heavy cream, corn syrup, and butter. Stirring occasionally, cook the mixture until it comes to a rolling boil. Once boiling, continue to cook for 1 minute. Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the vanilla extract. Stir to combine.
Pour the hot mixture into the nut mixture and blend well. Set aside until cool, about 5 minutes.
Using your hands (dough will be warm), roll the dough into one-inch balls. Place the balls onto the prepared baking sheet, about 3 inches apart.
Bake 12 minutes or until thin and golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool directly on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk chocolate chip morsels
- 1 teaspoon vegetable shortening
Supplies
Directions
Add chocolate chips and vegetable shortening to a microwave-safe bowl. Set the power on your microwave to 50 percent.
Heat the chocolate chips in 30 seconds intervals, for about 90 seconds. Stir in between each 30-second interval, until smooth. Drizzle the melted chocolate over the tops of the Florentine cookies when cool. Allow chocolate to harden. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
If you notice the cookie dough becomes too firm to mold, simply soften the dough in the microwave oven at half power for 30 seconds.
Dressing Up Your Florentine Cookies
A plain Florentine is still divine, sweet, and sticky without all the fuss. However, if you’d prefer to dress your Florentine up, you can do so to your tastes. It’s typical for a Florentine cookie to have a mixture of nuts and candied fruit.
Popular choices for Florentines include candied cherries, candied oranges, or dried cranberries. Add about 1/2 cup of candied fruit to the nut mixture and blend when making the cookie dough.
If you prefer to coat your Florentines in chocolate, you may do so by using a small offset spatula to coat the bottoms. Or you may choose to dip half the cookie in chocolate or drizzle them lightly on top. Different types of chocolate will add sweetness, or depth to your Florentines. Choose from dark, milk, or white chocolate.
