Florentines! Stunning soft and chewy biscuits made up of flaked almonds, glacé cherries, sultanas mixed with butter and golden syrup. Each biscuit is then spread with a delicious layer of melted dark chocolate on the base. They’re all things sweet, soft, chewy with a slight crisp! 

About Florentines

If you’re not familiar with florentines, they’re a biscuit/cookie that have a number of variations depending on what recipe you try. You will find them made with cornflakes included and condensed milk instead of butter and the syrup. This recipe I’m sharing with you doesn’t use cornflakes or condensed milk. Why? Because I wanted to create more authentic/traditional florentines and what I discovered was, they’re usually made with the almonds, dried fruit, butter and syrup. Of course I switched it up a little bit, mainly the amount of sugar, I always like to reduce sugar where possible. 

You may also see florentines similar looking to lace cookies, those very think and crispy lace baked biscuits. I hope to create a version of lace cookies in the future but today, it’s all about these lovely Florentine biscuits. 

Florentines Ingredients

What do you need to make your very own florentines at home? 

• Flaked almonds
• Glacé cherries 
• Sultanas
• Orange zest
• Plain flour
• Unsalted butter
• Golden syrup 
• Dark chocolate block 

With a relatively short ingredient list and easy method, the biscuits are something new and different than your regular baked cookies. Which is exactly why I love florentines and their flavour is so tasty and sweet. Then with the added chocolate bottoms which also acts as a solid base to the soft and chewy biscuits, each mouthful is absolutely scrumptious!

How to Make Florentines

You’ll also love just how simple these are to make. Let’s see what needs to be done: 

1. Pre-heat your oven and line your baking tray. 
2. Mix all of your dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Easy first step and you’re already down to the wet ingredients. Also be sure to half your glace cherries. On that topic, in the recipe notes I have included a substitution to glacé cherries if you cannot get your hands on them or you simply do not want to use them. You can use dried cranberries instead. 
3. In a small pot over low heat on your stove top, melt together the butter and golden syrup until smooth. 
4. Pour mixture over the dry ingredients and mix everything together with a wooden spoon until well combined and the dry ingredients are all coated. 
5. Scoop up heaped tablespoons of mixture and dollop onto lined tray. Moulding them into rounds, flattening slightly. Be sure to leave a 10cm gap between each cookie as they can spread out during baking. 
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes and they’ll turn golden all over. The liquid component to these will leak out slightly, this is ok, it will set later on. 
7. Remove from oven and allow them to cool on the tray for 10 minutes. They’ll be very soft and pliable so the longer they stay on the tray, the easier. They’ll be to manage when you remove them. Transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. 
8. Melt your chocolate in a double boiler then spread a layer of chocolate on your cooled florentines. Transfer to your refrigerator so the chocolate bottoms can set. 

How to Store Florentines

Store your florentines in an airtight container, refrigerated, for 1 week. You can store these in a dry dark pantry however I prefer them refrigerated because number one, they have chocolate on them so it’s best to keep them chilled to avoid any melting. Also by keeping them chilled, the overall texture is better, still soft but they’re solid. 

If you make this recipe please be sure to let me know how you go in the comments below and tag me on Instagram @wholesomepatisserie with your delicious photos & video! 

Enjoy, Sam x 

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