Italian Florentine Cookies Recipes

FLORENTINE COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line 2 cookie sheets with aluminum foil.
• Melt butter in a large saucepan. Remove from heat and mix in oats, sugar, flour, corn syrup, milk, vanilla, and salt until well combined. Drop by level teaspoonfuls 3 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. Spread cookies out thin with a rubber spatula.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Cool on the cookie sheets.
• Meanwhile, place chocolate chips in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Stir frequently, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula to avoid scorching, until chocolate is melted and smooth, about 5 minutes.
• Peel foil from cookies. Spread melted chocolate on 1/2 of the cookies. Top with the remaining cookies.

FLORENTINE COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Combine honey, sugar, and butter in a small saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook until the temperature reaches 238 degrees (the soft-ball stage) on a candy thermometer. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine nuts, dried fruit, flour, and spices.
• Pour honey-sugar mixture over contents in large bowl, stirring with a wooden spoon to combine. When cool enough to handle, form into 1-inch balls with hands coated with vegetable shortening to prevent sticking. Place on a baking sheet lined with a Silpat mat or parchment paper, and flatten into balls with the palm of your hand. Bake until bubbled on top, about 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack.
• Meanwhile, melt the chocolate: In the top of a double boiler or in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stir chocolate with a spatula until smooth. Working quickly, using a small offset spatula, spread a thick layer of chocolate on the back of each cooled cookie. Place cookies, chocolate side up, on a wire rack until chocolate is hardened. Store between layers of parchment paper in an airtight container.

ITALIAN WEDDING COOKIES RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 325"F.
• In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter and 3/4 c of the powder sugar until fluffy.
• Add the vanilla extract and little by little the ground walnuts and hazelnuts. Mix until combined.
• Start adding in the flour little by little until mixed in.
• Prepare your largest cookie sheet and using a small spoon (or small ice-cream scoop) form the cookies into balls, the size of a golfball or smaller. You should have about 45 cookies.
• Arrange all the cookies on the baking sheet without touching each other.
• Bake the cookies in the preheated 325"F oven for 20 minutes.
• Remove the wedding cookies from the oven and allow them to cool off just for a few minutes before rolling them over the reserved powder sugar. It's best that they are still a little warm so the sugar coating sticks nicely.
• Arrange the cookies on a platter and dust with more powder sugar on top before serving.

FLORENTINE COOKIES

Steps:

• Position oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat oven to 325°F/163°C. Line a large 17 x 12 inch (43 x 30 cm) baking or cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
• To peel the almonds: Over high heat, bring a saucepan of water to a boil.Add the almonds and boil for 1 minute (no longer because they will soften). Drain and rinse with cold water to cool and stop them from cooking. Spread onto a towel and rub them until the peels come off. Dry well.
• Add the almonds to a food processor or blender and pulse until finely chopped.
• In a mixing bowl, stir together the almonds, flour and orange peel.
• To a small saucepan add the sugar, heavy cream corn syrup and butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the mixture comes to a rolling boil and the sugar is completely dissolved. Continue to simmer for 1 minute.
• Remove from the heat and add the mixture to the almond mix along with the vanilla. Stir until combined. Allow to cool until it is cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes.
• Using a teaspoon measuring spoon, portion out 1 teaspoon of dough and roll into a ball using your hands. Roll the balls as round as you can, this will ensure nice round cookies. If the dough seems dry and crumbly, simply put a ball of the dough your warm hand it will soften so you can shape.
• Place the dough balls 6-inches (15 cm) apart on to the prepared baking sheet. They spread to 3-inches (7 ½ cm) in diameter. You'll need to work in batches to fit your baking sheet.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. If they join together, use a sharp knife to separate while they are hot and soft on the baking sheet as they will harden very quickly.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes until they are no longer soft, then transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat with the remaining dough.
• In a microwave safe bowl, add the chocolate and microwave in 10 second increments, stirring in between until melted. Be careful not to burn.
• Take a cooled cookie, spread the chocolate on one side, take another cookie and make a sandwich, press carefully as they are delicate. Repeat with all cookies.
• If you would like to drizzle chocolate on the top, put the melted chocolate into a small ziptop bag. Snip of a very tiny piece of the corner and this will allow you to get the perfect drizzle.
• Allow the cookies to cool and store in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

LACE COOKIES (FLORENTINE COOKIES)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with a silicone liner (such as Silpat®).
• Place almonds into the bowl of a food processor; alternate pulsing and running at full speed every few seconds until finely chopped and crumblike. Be careful not to go too far; you don't want them too fine and pasty.
• Combine butter, brown sugar, and honey in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir a few times and cook until melted and dissolved. Bring to a boil, then carefully remove from the heat.
• Add vanilla extract, salt, and flour, and whisk until smooth. Add chopped almonds and mix with a spatula until everything is combined.
• Drop eight uniformly sized, rounded spoonfuls of batter (each about 2 teaspoons, or 15 grams) onto the prepared sheet. Fine-tune the cookie shapes and make sure they are evenly spaced.
• Place in the center of the preheated oven and bake until golden brown and a bit darker around the outsides, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.
• Remove from the oven and slide the silicone liner off the baking sheet and directly onto the countertop. Allow to sit until cool and crisp, 3 to 5 minutes, then gently peel cookies off the liner. Repeat to bake remaining batches.
• Spread melted chocolate over the flat side of one cookie. Place a second cookie, flat-side down, on top to make a sandwich and press very gently to seal. Repeat to form remaining cookies. Let sit until chocolate has firmed up, about 30 minutes.

FLORENTINE LACE COOKIES

Steps:

• Toast the almonds, either in a dry pan over medium heat (stirring occasionally), or in a shallow pan in the oven, for about 5 minutes or until golden brown and fragrant.
• Place the almonds in a food processor or mini-chopper, and pulse a few times, until they are coarsely chopped.
• Preheat the oven to 350
• Transfer the chopped almonds to a bowl and add the flour, salt, and orange zest. Toss to combine.
• Place the sugars, cream, and butter in a small pot and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugars are dissolved and the butter is melted.
• Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil.
• Remove from heat and pour the hot sugar mixture over the almond mixture. Stir to combine
• Use a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop to drop the batter onto the prepared cookie sheets. (Allow at least 3 inches in between, cookies will spread during baking.)
• Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool about 3 mins, shape if desired
• optional - melt some semi sweet or dark chocolate and spread along the back

FLORENTINES (ITALY)

Steps:

• Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
• Pulse the almonds in a food processor until finely chopped, but not pasty. Stir together the nuts, flour, zest and salt in a large bowl.
• Put the sugar, cream, corn syrup and butter in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a rolling boil and sugar is completely dissolved. Continue to boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla, then pour mixture into almond mixture and stir just to combine. Set aside until cool enough to handle, 30 minutes.
• Scoop rounded teaspoons (for 3-inch cookies) or rounded tablespoons (for 6-inch cookies) of batter and roll into balls. Place on prepared baking sheet, leaving about 3 to 4 inches between each cookie since they spread.
• Bake 1 pan at a time, until the cookies are thin and an even golden brown color throughout, rotating pans halfway through baking time, about 10 to 11 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve.
• Optional chocolate topping: Put the chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Bring a saucepan filled with 1 inch or so of water to a very low simmer; set the bowl over, but not touching, the water. Stir the chocolate occasionally until melted and smooth. (Alternatively, put the chocolate in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Melt at 50 percent power in the microwave until soft, about 1 minute. Stir, and continue heat until completely melted, about 1 to 2 minutes more.)
• For sandwiches: Drop about 1/2 teaspoon chocolate onto on the flat side of half of the cookies and press together with remaining halves. Return to rack and let chocolate set.
• For chocolate decor: Drizzle melted chocolate over Florentines as desired. Set aside at room temperature until chocolate is set.

LACE COOKIES WITH CHOCOLATE (FLORENTINE COOKIES)

Steps:

• Place 1 1/2 cups of whole raw almonds into a food processor and pulse them on high speed until they chop up into fine crumbs. Then set them aside.
• In a medium saucepan add 1/2 cup unsalted butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar, and 1/4 cup honey. Stir using a metal whisk.
• Once it comes to a boil, turn the heat off and remove the saucepan from the heat.
• Then stir in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and 3 tbsp all-purpose flour.
• Now, use a spatula to mix in the finely chopped almonds. 
• Then scoop out about 1/2 tablespoon-sized scoops of the cookie dough onto a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat. If you don't have a silicone mat, parchment paper works too. But the mats will result in more even baking.
• Make sure to place each scoop of the lace cookie dough at least 3 inches apart. They will spread a lot when they bake.
• Now preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Then take each piece of cookie batter and roll it out to a ball, and place it half onto the baking sheet.
• Place each baking sheet in the center rack (one at a time). Then bake for 8 minutes making sure to turn once after 4 minutes.
• While the cookies are looking, melt 1 1/2 cups of semisweet chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl until fully melted. Always be sure to do this in intervals with stirring in between to avoid scorching the chocolate.
• Now take 1 Florentine cookie and gently spread a little bit of the melted chocolate on the back of it, then place a similar sized cookie on top. So you want the back of each cookie to sandwich the chocolate in between them.
• Let the chocolate set for about 1-2 hours before serving.

ITALIAN FLORENTINE COOKIES

Steps:

• Prepare a grill for indirect heat. If using a charcoal grill, build the hot coals on one side only. If using a gas grill, heat one side only to medium-high heat.
• Add the sugar, butter, cream and honey to a heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil over direct heat. Whisk until the sugar dissolves.
• Stir together the crushed almonds, flour, salt and orange zest in a large bowl, then pour into the sugar mixture and mix to combine. Allow the mixture to cool, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. (The batter can be chilled overnight if you have the time.)
• Invert a cast-iron skillet over direct heat and place a piece of foil on it. Spoon teaspoon-sized amounts of batter onto the skillet, pressing out so the almonds are distributed evenly. Move the skillet over indirect heat and bake until the cookies bubble and caramelize, about 3 minutes. Remove the skillet from the grill and place the foil on a cutting board to allow the cookies to cool faster.
• Once cool, gently peel the cookies off the foil and serve!
• (Alternatively, you can bake the cookies on aluminum foil-lined baking sheets in a 350 degrees F oven until they bubble and caramelize, 10 to 12 minutes.)

FLORENTINE COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350-degrees F, and have 2 silicone liners on baking sheets ready. You can also use parchment paper. Gather and pre-chop all ingredients.
• Add the butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup to a small saucepan.
• Turn the heat to low, and stir frequently just until the butter melts. Do not let it bubble or boil, and do not worry if the sugar doesn't dissolve fully-we just need to melt the butter in this step.
• Remove the saucepan from the heat, and then add the flour, chopped candied fruit and nuts. Stir to combine.
• Once the mixture is very well-mixed, scoop out heaping teaspoons (or a flat level tablespoon) onto the sheet pan, spacing the cookies fairly wide apart. I only bake 6 cookies on a baking sheet at a time. Press the cookies flat so they bake evenly.
• Slide the cookies into the oven, and bake for 8-10 minutes, until they're golden brown and bubbling. Pull the cookies out of the oven when they're golden brown and bubbling, EVEN IF THEY APPEAR SOFT AND MELTY.
• Let the cookies cool on the pan until they firm up enough to be moved with a spatula to a cooling rack. While the cookies are still warm and pliable, you can use a spatula to push the edges gently to make the cookie perfectly round around the edges. Repeat with all remaining cookie batter.
• Once the cookies are completely cool, it's time to brush the bottoms with chocolate: combine the chocolate and coconut oil in a small microwave-safe bowl.
• Melt the chocolate and coconut oil on 50% power in the microwave in 30 seconds pulses, or use a double boiler. Use a silicone pastry brush to brush the chocolate on the underside of the cookies. Let the chocolate harden and then serve.