Category: Cookies and Bars, Recipes
Yields:
21 Servings
Difficulty: Medium
Prep Time: 1 Hr
Cook Time:
10 Mins
Total Time:
1 Hr 10 Mins
Dark Chocolate, Almond and Hazelnut Florentines with a Caramelized White Chocolate Drizzle
These delectable Florentine cookies contain a mix of almonds, hazelnuts, raisins and candied peel that is mixed with a brown sugar caramel. After baking until crisp, they are then coated on one side with melted semi-sweet chocolate and drizzled with caramelized white chocolate. If you can’t find peeled hazelnuts, you can easily peel them by blanching them in water mixed with 1 tbsp baking soda for 3 minutes. The peels will then just slide off!
Ingredients
Adjust Servings
Instructions
-
For the Florentines
- Heat the oven to 350 F/180 C
- Place the almonds, hazelnuts, raisins and mixed peel in the food processor and pulse until chopped into small pieces. Add the flour and pulse again to combine. Transfer to a large bowl.
- Place the butter, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat stirring until the butter melts. Then cook without stirring until the mixture reaches 250 F/120 C. Remove from heat and whisk in the cream. Pour the caramel over the nut mixture and stir until well mixed.
- These cookies spread quite a bit, so you will need to cook only 6 per baking sheet. Scoop 1 tbsp of the mixture onto a lined baking sheet and press to an even thickness, about 5 cm/2 in round. Allow plenty of room between each cookie. You will end up with 18-21 cookies so you will need to bake these in batches.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, until browned around the edges and golden in the centre. Let cookies cool for 5 minutes in the pan before moving them to a rack to cool completely. To Decorate
- To melt the semi-sweet chocolate, place in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 20 seconds, then stir. Continue heating and stirring in 15-second increments until the chocolate is fully melted. Using a knife or spatula, spread a layer of chocolate over the flat side of the cookies. Allow to set before moving on to the next step.
- To make the caramelized white chocolate, place the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 30 seconds then stir, continue heating in 20-second increments, stirring between each. The chocolate will first melt, then over time, it will begin to change texture and then colour. Continue this process until the chocolate turns a golden caramel colour. Do not be disturbed when the chocolate becomes a bit chalky in texture. This is part of the process. Stir the chocolate until it becomes smooth again. The bowl will become quite hot during this process, so oven mitts are necessary. Once you have reached the desired colour, allow the chocolate to cool to lukewarm. Then using a spoon, drizzle the chocolate decoratively over the dark chocolate. Allow to set before serving.