Florentine Biscuits

Lace biscuits of caramel and nuts with a chocolate base combed into waves.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (butter), dairy (double cream), honey.

Ingredients

• 100 g butter
• 100 g caster sugar
• 3 tablespoons double cream
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 150 g flaked almonds
• 80 g candied peel, chopped finely
• 60 g glacé cherries, chopped
• 40 g plain flour
• 200 g dark chocolate

Method

1. Melt the butter, sugar, cream and honey together and bring them to a boil for exactly 1 minute. That short boil concentrates the syrup enough to set hard when cold.
2. Take it off the heat and stir in the almonds, peel, cherries and flour.
3. Put TEASPOONS WELL APART on lined trays, only four or five to a tray. They spread to three times their size and will run into each other given any chance.
4. Bake at 180C for 10 to 12 minutes until the edges are deep brown and the middles still bubbling.
5. Let them firm up on the tray for 5 minutes, then push the edges in with a knife or a round cutter to tidy them while they are still soft.
6. Cool completely, then spread melted chocolate on the FLAT UNDERSIDE.
7. As it begins to set, drag a fork across in waves. Done on the underside the chocolate is protected and the lacy top stays visible, which is the whole look of the biscuit.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes