Florentines, ready to serve
I don't know why I'd never made these before. They're mostly almond, something I eat a lot! And then you add dark chocolate to the top. What a spectacular combination!
So, in between bouts of frustration with the USPS online service (Grrrrr), I was working on making a batch of these delicious treats.
Florentines: Recipe
This recipe is from www.foodnetwork.com
5 oz. finely ground almonds (You can buy them that way, and they're a lot cheaper than whole or sliced almonds)
3 T. all-purpose flour
Finely grated zest of 1 orange (Appx. 2 T.)
1/4 t. fine salt
3/4 c. sugar
2 T. heavy cream (I used heavy whipping cream)
2 T. light corn syrup
5 T. butter
1/2 t. vanilla extract
Chocolate Topping, optional. (Optional?? Are you kidding?)
2-4 oz. semisweet chocolate (I used 12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Combine almonds, 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 (I didn't take any chances. I stirred it constantly) 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. Pour mixture into almond mixture and stir just to combine. Set aside until cool enough to handle, about 30 minutes.
Scoop rounded teaspoons (? I made dough balls that were the size of shooter marbles and got a dozen balls on each large baking sheet. They will spread out, so leave plenty of space around each dough ball.)
Just out of the oven
I had a dozen cookies on each of two baking sheets. It worked well to place one on the middle shelf and one of the shelf above that. I baked them for 5 minutes, switched pans to the opposite oven racks, and baked another 6 minutes. I let them completely cool on the pans before spreading chocolate on top.
In a double boiler, melt the semi-sweet chocolate pieces. I couldn't manage to drizzle this, but spread a spoonful onto each cookie, then sprinkled additional ground almonds on top.
These cookies need to be chilled to help the chocolate set up. Then they're ready to serve or store. Right now, I have a box of them sitting outdoors on the deck where it's -5 degrees F. I'm pretty sure they'll stay cool enough there.
EASY and DELICIOUS
FLORENTINES
on one of my mom's Christmas plates. :-)
This post is linked to: Amaze Me Monday and Skip to My Lou and What's in the Gunny Sack and Making the World Cuter Mondays and Make the Scene Monday and Made By You Monday and Something I Whipped Up Monday and Motivate Me Monday and Making Monday Marvelous and Made from Scratch Tuesday and Take a Look Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday and Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays and Two Maids a Baking and Overflowing with Creativity and What's Cookin' Wednesday and We Did it Wednesday and It's a Party at Creative Princess and Lisa's Gluten-Free Blog and Favorite Things Friday and I'm Lovin' it Friday and It's a Hodgepodge Friday and Home and Family Friday
