Florentines. These sweet florentines gain flavor from almonds and candied orange peels before they're dipped in melted chocolate for the perfect delicate dessert. With damp fingertips, gently flatten the balls to a ¼-inch thickness. Remove and immediately reshape the Florentines into circles; a cookie cutter is ideal or you can use a knife. You get a very big bang for remarkably little work in. Baking guru Annie Bell introduces the recipe in her Baking Bible with the ominous words: "Florentines aren't the simplest of biscuits, which is why I tend not to go overboard on making them.

Florentines are made of nuts (typically hazelnuts and almonds) and candied cherries mixed with sugar melted together with butter and honey, cooked in an oven. They are often coated on the bottom with chocolate. Other types of candied fruit are used as well. You can have Florentines using 8 ingredients and 7 steps. Here is how you cook that.

Ingredients of Florentines

It's 12 of glace cherries.
It's 1 of ball of preserved ginger in syrup (optional).
It's 100 g of butter.
It's 100 g of demerara or soft brown sugar.
It's 100 g of golden syrup.
It's 100 g of plain flour.
You need 160 g of flaked almonds.
Prepare 150 g of 70% dark chocolate.

They typically contain neither flour nor eggs. References Stir thoroughly again, then remove the saucepan from the heat and put the mixture on one side to cool. Use this recipe to try our favourite chocolate and fruit flavour combinations - cherry and dark chocolate, orange and milk. Or create your own with crystallised ginger, pistachios, white chocolate, cranberries - whatever you like!

Florentines step by step

Heat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Cut the cherries and ginger, if using, into small pieces..
Add the butter, sugar and syrup to a pan, I also added a pinch of salt, and heat gently until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved..
Add the chopped cherries and ginger to the flour and mix together with the almonds..
Add the dry mixture to the butter and syrup mixture and combine well with a wooden spoon or spatula. Line two large baking sheets with baking parchment..
Place teaspoonfuls of the mixture on to the baking sheets, leaving plenty of room for them to spread. Bake for 10 minutes until dark golden brown, remove from the oven and use a knife to push the edges in so they're not too lacy at the sides. Leave on the baking sheets until hardened, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely and crisp up..
Melt the chocolate gently in a pan, then dip the undersides of the florentines in it, place upside down back on the wire rack to dry..
Eat when the chocolate has set..

Florentine definition is - of or relating to Florence, Italy. How to use Florentine in a sentence. The candied and dried fruit and nuts in these soft, sticky florentines give the biscuits a jewel-like appearance. This variant from Frances Atkins is without the chocolate backing of many others, but you can dip them in melted chocolate if you prefer. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl positioned over a pan of simmering water, or melt in the microwave.