Florentines can take on different shapes and sizes, from pancake flat to lumpy with big chunks of fruit and nuts. Florentines can be as refined or rustic as you like, it just depends on how finely chopped your ingredients are. While Florentines are not well-known in the states, they are easy to make and can be modified easily based on what you have on hand. The original recipe comes from Nigella Lawson’s “How to be a Domestic Goddess.” I adjusted the recipe based on my tastes and what I had on hand. This recipe is pretty difficult to screw up so feel free to skip over my notes below.
Recipe Notes
If you’re short on time, go the “rustic” route with these cookies and leave some large chunks of fruit and nuts in there. As you’ll see below, this is what I did and they turned out pretty well. If nothing else, they tasted good and several people asked me for the recipe. Someone asking for the recipe is a pretty good litmus test of how good your recipe actually is. Hats off to Nigella, I’m one step closer to becoming a domestic goddess.
First, chop the fruit and nuts to your liking and set aside. Next, melt the butter in a sauce pan and add the sugar. Unlike toffee or caramel, feel free to stir the butter and sugar so that it combines quickly and easily. Once combined, add in the flour and mix thoroughly. The mixture is going to look like a ball of paste. Next, remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the heavy cream. The mixture should be smooth so place the pan back on the heat and continue to whisk until all lumps are gone. Finally mix in your chopped fruit and nuts.
Assembly Notes
The mixture is going to look like a hot mess, that’s fine. Take a teaspoon and dollop a healthy drop of the mixture onto your greased or lined baking sheet. Leave plenty of space between the dollops since the mixture is quite slack and will spread out during baking. Once you have placed all of your mixture onto your baking sheets, bake until the edges of your Florentines are golden brown, around 10 minutes. Pull your baking sheets out of the oven and leave the Florentines to cool for a few minutes. If they have spread out too much, you can use a spatula to push them back into the desired shape. The Florentines will be quick malleable when they first come out of the oven. When they are firm enough to pick up, remove them from the baking tray and place flat on a wire rack to cool completely.
Decorating Notes
Once the Florentines are completely cooled, melt your semi-sweet chocolate. Using a pastry or marinade brush, coat the bottoms of the Florentines with chocolate. If you’re feeling fancy, you can make a wavy pattern in the chocolate using a fork. Let the chocolate set and enjoy. I found that these get better when left out for a day or two. I don’t feel like they really get stale. But then again, I’m one of those people who likes marshmallow peeps stale, so take my advice with a grain of salt.
Florentines
Equipment
- 2 Baking sheets greased or with silpat
Ingredients
- 110 grams Almonds
- 98 grams Crystalized ginger
- 42 grams Golden raisins
- 28 grams Butter, unsalted 2 tbsp worth
- 67 grams Sugar, granulated
- 18 grams AP flour
- 150 grams Heavy cream
- 4 ounces Semi-sweet chocolate For brushing.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 deg. Fahrenheit.
- Chop the almonds so there is a mix of big and small pieces. If you're using slivered almonds, you can skip this step.
- Chop the candied ginger and golden raisins into small, even pieces
- Using a sauce pan, melt the butter and sugar on a low temperature, don't let it burn.
- Add the flour to the butter and sugar, the mixture should come together into a ball
- Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the heavy cream. The mixture shouldn't have any lumps in it so put the pan back on low heat if needed to whisk any lumps out.
- Remove the pan from the heat once the mixture is smooth and stir in the almonds and fruit.
- Dollop a heaping teaspoon of the mixture onto the greased or silpat lined baking sheets. Leave plenty of space between them since the florentines will spread out during baking.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges of the florentines are golden brown.
- Take the florentines out of the oven and leave in the pan for a few minutes to firm up. If they need to be pushed back into shape a bit, you can do that now since they're going to be quite soft and workable.
- Once firm enough to hold their shape, lift them up with a metal spatula and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, leaving them flat.
- Once the florentines are completely cool, melt the chocolate and using a pastry brush, brush the bottom of the florentines, ensuring a thick, even coat.
- If desired, you can add patterns to the chocolate before leaving to cool. Otherwise, leave to dry and enjoy.