Almond Florentine Recipe

A batch of soft, chewy and easy Almond Florentines are made up of flaked almonds, glacé cherries, sultanas and 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 crisp edging!

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine Italian

Keyword dark chocolate, easy, florentine

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 15

Servings florentines

Calories 208kcal

Author Samantha Pickthall

Ingredients

Florentines

3/4 cup flaked almonds
1/3 cup glacé cherries, halved use scissors to make it easy to half the cherries
1/3 cup sultanas
1/3 cup plain all purpose flour
50 g unsalted butter
3 Tbsp golden syrup

Chocolate Base

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Florentines

Preheat oven to 180ºC (350ºF). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, add almonds, cherries, sultanas and flour. Mix with a wooden spoon or spatula until well combined. Set aside.
In a small saucepan, add butter and golden syrup. Place over a low-medium heat and gently melt butter until smooth and well combined with the syrup, making sure it doesn’t come to a boil. Remove from heat.
Pour melted butter mixture over dry mixture and stir until well combined and ingredients are coated.
Pick up 1 heaping tablespoon of mixture and dollop onto lined tray. Flatten out slightly with the back of a spoon.
Repeat with remaining mixture, ensuring to leave about a 5cm - 10 cm gap between each florentine as they do spread out a little.
Bake for 8-10 minutes until lightly golden all over and they’re set around the edges. NOTE: the caramelized liquid can leak out of some biscuits during baking, this is normal!
Remove from oven and allow to cool a little on the tray for 10 minutes to harden and firm up slightly.
Carefully remove from tray and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Be careful lifting them off the tray as they will be hot. Use a spatula to help you.
The florentines will be quite soft but they’ll firm up once they cool.

Chocolate base

Once florentines have cooled completely, melt the chocolate.
Prepare a double boiler by placing a heat proof mixing bowl over a small/medium sized pot of simmering water.
Add broken up/chopped chocolate to the bowl.
Gently melt over a low-medium heat, stirring occasionally until completely melted and smooth. Once chocolate has melted, remove from heat.
Dollop a teaspoon of melted chocolate onto the flat bottom base of one florentine and gently spread chocolate too cover the base using the back of a spoon or a butter knife. Place back onto wire rack. Repeat with remaining florentines.
Transfer rack with florentines to the refrigerator so the chocolate can set. Or leave them at room temperature until set.
Serve and enjoy!

Video

Notes

Halve the glacé cherries as they will be too large if used whole. Having larger pieces of fruit and nuts in these florentines will cause crumbling.

To make gluten free florentines swap the regular flour for plain gluten free all purpose flour.

Allow florentines to cool for 10 minutes on the tray after baking to firm up as they are very delicate and soft once baked and they will fall apart if handled too early.

Substitute dark chocolate with milk chocolate or white chocolate for the base if desired.

Be sure florentines are cooled completely before spreading the melted chocolate on the bases.

Store in an airtight container, refrigerated, for 1 week - 10 days.

Nutrition