A Deliciously Easy Take on Florentines

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.