Florentines

Barbara Klein English:, recipes 11 Comments

 

Is a Florentine a citizen of Florence?

Do you know the origin of Florentine? According to Wikipedia it is a pastry originating from Florence and created during the Renaissance period, later it was exported to France and the French now pretend it is a French pastry. It is also a Swiss pastry, believe me!

Actually, they are quite easy to make but it takes some time to master the art of not burning your hands or the Florentines ….

 

Italian pastry

Florentines front view

 

 

Late Bloomers Florentines

Yield: 24 pieces (normal sized muffin tray)
or
12 pieces normal size and 30 pieces small size (mini muffins)

Preheat oven to 170° C

Ingredients
150 g sugar
50 g liquid honey
160 g heavy cream
150 g almond slivers
100 g candied lemon and orange peel

150 g dark chocolate

 

Method
Put sugar, honey and cream in a pot and heat up to 118° C, once boiling let it cook for another 5 minutes continuously and gently stirring. Be careful not to burn your hands!

Add almonds and candied lemon and orange peel and mix well

Take pot away from stove

Fill in silicone form (muffin tray or smaller, see above) using a table spoon for regular size or teaspoon for mini muffin trays

Baking time: 10 minutes for regular size, slightly less for mini trays, let them cool and put them upside down on a tin lined with baking paper

Melt chocolate in bain-marie and cover backside of florentines with chocolate (use a silicone brush)

If necessary apply a second layer of chocolate

 

dark chocolate layer

Florentines back view

Tip
Use candied ginger instead of lemon and orange peel

Use half almond slivers and pine nuts

Printer friendly recipe here.

 

 

Comments 11

  1. tandysinclair Absolutely, Tandy, do make them. For years I had wanted to make them and always thought I’d fail miserably at them. And they are great comfort food on cold and rainy days!

    Happy weekend in sunny SA, Tandy!

  2. Sounds so simple, Barbara, despite the warnings re burned fingers, etc., yet something tells me there are ways of messing them up.  But, regardless what they come out looking like, with those ingredients, how can they NOT taste yummy!  😉

  3. sharonoday Very true, Sharon, I should have posted pictures of the failed florentines! Temperature is a major issue (it is all about chemistry really and now I wish I had paid some attention in class!), some methods suggest you make small heaps on a lined tin = big mess flowing all over the tin or use a special florentine metal tray (no go, despite buttering it, the florentines will stick to the tray). Despite the disputed arguments I use silicone muffin trays and they do work. 

    Thanks for stopping by, Sharon, and a very peaceful weekend to you!

  4. This looks like an easy enough recipe to follow. I have added it to my list of recipes I have to try. Thanks for sharing!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.