Florentines

Name: Florentines
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Yield: Makes 28-30
Cuisine: Italian recipes
Ingredients: 60g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing; 50g golden caster sugar; 2 tbsp double cream; 25g fresh cranberries (or frozen, defrosted); 40g flaked almonds, chopped; 25g mixed candied peel; 25g stem ginger, chopped; 25g pine nuts; 15g plain flour; 50g dark chocolate, melted

Published: 20 Nov 14
Updated: 18 Mar 24

Test kitchen approved

Florentine biscuits are famous for their fabulously chewy-yet-crunchy texture due to their richly-packed fruit and nut content. These florentines are bursting with stem ginger, candied peel, almonds and cranberries, all lodged inside crisp caramel discs and finished with a lick of dark chocolate. Heaven.

Don’t forget to check out this fantastic hybrid bake too: our florentine shortbread fingers.

Makes 28-30
Hands-on time 25 min, oven time 40 min

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Ingredients

60g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
50g golden caster sugar
2 tbsp double cream
25g fresh cranberries (or frozen, defrosted)
40g flaked almonds, chopped
25g mixed candied peel
25g stem ginger, chopped
25g pine nuts
15g plain flour
50g dark chocolate, melted

Method

Heat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4 and grease 2-3 baking sheets with unsalted butter.
Put the 60g butter and the sugar in a pan and heat gently to dissolve the sugar. Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat. Add the cream, then beat in the remaining ingredients.
Put ½ tsp mounds of the mixture on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 3-4cm apart. Work in batches, as you’ll need to move fast when they come out of the oven.
Bake for 8 minutes, then use a 5-6cm round metal pastry cutter to quickly gather in the edges of the spread florentines and shape into a round (see tip). Return to the oven for 2-3 minutes until deep golden.
Leave on the tray for 2-3 minutes, cool completely on a wire rack, then spread the backs with the chocolate using a pastry brush.

Recipe from November 2014 Issue

Nutrition

Nutrition: per serving

Calories: 55kcals
Fat: 4g (1.8g saturated)
Protein: 0.6g
Carbohydrates: 4.3g (3.8g sugars)
Fibre: 0.2g
Salt: 0.1g

delicious. tips

Don’t worry if you don’t finish up with perfect rounds – rustic is good. The florentines are also hardier than they look, so even if they spread out and become very thin during cooking, you can mould them back into shape in step 4 and they’ll harden as they cool.

The florentines will keep for up to 2 weeks if you store them in an airtight container.

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Florentines

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