Welcome to Day 12 of
The Twelve Days of Cookies!
From December 1-12th I’ll post a new cookie (or holiday treat) recipe every day – inspiration for your holiday entertaining or cookie exchanges!
The recipes I’m sharing are small batch (each recipe makes 1-dozen) that are simple to prepare and that use everyday ingredients and equipment (hint, a small loaf tin and electric hand beaters are your friends for so many of these recipes!) so hopefully you’ll be able to whip up any of these on a whim.
Today’s cookie recipe makes enough for 12 people but instead of individual cookies, this makes a giant cookie you can break into pieces (or let your guests do this) – either way you serve it, it’s so pretty for the holidays!
A Florentine cookie (also known as a lace cookie) is a lovely combination of caramel, nuts, fruit and chocolate that makes a delicate looking cookie which appears much more difficult to make than it really is!
When you’re making these, the “batter” might seem like it’s not going to hold together and when you look in the oven during the bake time, you might wonder if it’s actually going to work out but have faith – it will all come together in the end!
Many recipes for Florentines are completely flourless but here I’ve added a tiny amount of flour to help bind everything together – I found it helps. If you want to make these gluten-free, you can use a GF substitute or, try without.
As for the fruit and nuts, though almonds and cherries are typically used, you can use what you’d like – for the holidays I particularly like the green and red cherries but there are so many other combinations that would work as well.
I have made a few different iterations of this recipe and settled on this one because it’s crunchy with a little bit of chew still in the caramel (i.e. it’s not rock hard). The texture from the cherries and the almonds works well against the crisp and crunch of the caramel, not to mention it looks so pretty!
Giant Florentine Cookie (to share)
What's better than a Florentine cookie? A giant Florentine cookie to share!
Ingredients
- 28g (1/4 stick/ 2 tablespoons) salted butter
- 30g (3 tablespoons) brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon dark corn syrup
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 38g (1/4) cup slivered almonds
- 50g (1/4 cup) glacé cherries (red and green), quartered
- 50g semisweet chocolate
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F.
- Line a baking tray with a silicone baking mat.
- Melt the butter, sugar and corn syrup in a small pot over medium heat.
- When the mixture starts to bubble, remove from the heat.
- Stir in the flour, nuts and cherries and mix to distribute evenly.
- Pour the mixture into the middle of the baking tray and use a rubber spatula to coax it into a circle shape. Pat down to make sure the dried fruits and nuts are evenly distributed across the surface.
- Bake for 16 minutes - the mixture will have spread to approximately 30cm in diameter and appear lacy, especially around the edges. If the shape is a bit unruly, use the rubber spatula to coak it into an even circle again.
- Remove from the oven and place the tray on a wire cooling rack .
- Once you can handle the silicone baking mat, carefully remove it and place it on the wire cooling rack and place in the fridge until the cookie is solid.
- Melt the chocolate either in a bowl set on a pot of simmering water (bain marie) or in a microwave in short (30 second) bursts of power at 50%. Set aside and allow to cool slightly.
- Remove the chilled cookie from the fridge and place a second silicone mat over the top of it. Carefully flip the cookie and use an offset spatula to spread the melted chocolate on the flip side of the cookie.
- Place the silicone baking mat back on the wire rack and place in the fridge until the chocolate is set.
- Serve as a giant "break to share" cookie!
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This will benefit from being in the fridge for as long as you can manage it before you coat with chocolate and, again, before you break it up but the good news is that it keeps a while in an airtight container in the fridge once you’ve broken the pieces up. Perfect for making ahead or for having on hand for last minute guests!
Check out the rest of the:
The Twelve Days of Cookies
Day 1: Easy Three Ingredient Shortbread
Day 2: Jam Drops
Day 3: Chocolate Caramel Slice
Day 4: Melting Moments
Day 5: White Christmas
Day 6: Langues de Chat
Day 7: Chocolate Coconut Slice
Day 8: Cornflake Biscuits
Day 9: Rocky Road
Day 10: Honey Joys
Day 11: Rum Ball Truffles
Day 12: Giant Florentine Cookie (to share)
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Do you know if these will freeze well?
No they will not!