Name: Florentine Cookies
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 20
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: 50 g butter, 2oz; 50 g demerara / brown sugar, 2oz; 50 g golden or corn syrup, 2oz; 50 g plain All Purpose flour, 2oz; 4 red and green or natural glacé cherries finely chopped; 50 g finely chopped candied peel or raisins, 2oz; 50 g finely chopped mixed almonds, walnuts, pecans, pistachios, peanuts. (You can choose your favourites!), 2oz; 175 g plain, milk or white chocolate or a variety of all three!, 6oz

Florentine Cookies! These are a wonderful cookie-type treat, with lots of delicious goodies in them, and coated on one side with white or dark or milk chocolate. A really easy recipe!

Florentine Cookies are a wonderful cookie type treat, with delicious nuts & fruit and coated on one side with white or dark or milk chocolate. Easy recipe!

Florentines are truly a most wonderful sweet treat! They are luxurious and of course, always made with love.

For those not familiar with florentines, they are a treat that mainly appears during Christmas time, and given as gifts to friends and family. You can buy them in good European food stores, but they can often be very expensive, given the ingredients used.

Table of Contents 📋 hide

1) What are Florentines?

2) What fruits and nuts can I use?

9) What chocolate can I use?

10) Recipe Card

11) Florentine Cookies

12) Delicious Sweet Snacks for Christmas

What are Florentines?

In a nutshell, florentines are a thin cookie, made up of a caramel type base, similar to brandy snaps, which is coated on one side with your choice of chocolate, and then the top has a variety of dried fruits and nuts, making for a very pretty, festive looking treat.

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What fruits and nuts can I use?

You can choose your favorite fruits and nuts to go in these florentines, so don't be afraid to experiment a little and add the things you love the most.

In the photo below, one of our readers, Carina, made a batch of florentines and chose a variety of cherries, candied peel, walnuts, almonds and pistachios.

Florentine Cookies. These are a wonderful cookie type treat, with lots of delicious goodies in them, and coated on one side with white or dark or milk chocolate. Easy recipe!

So let's see what we have to do to get these into our kitchens. Happy baking everyone!

Prep Time

15 minutes

Cook time

8 - 10 minutes

Yield

20 pieces

Ingredients

50 g (2oz) butter
50 g (2oz) demerara / brown sugar
50 g (2oz) golden or corn syrup
50 g (2oz) plain All Purpose flour
4 red and green or natural glacé cherries finely chopped
50 g (2oz) finely chopped candied peel or raisins
50 g (2oz) finely chopped mixed almonds, walnuts, pecans, pistachios, peanuts. (You can choose your favourites!)
175 g (6oz) plain, milk or white chocolate or a variety of all three!

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (375°F). Line a baking tray with parchment paper. (If you don't, the florentines will be very difficult to remove)

2. Put the butter and syrup into a pan. Heat until the butter melts, remove from the heat, then add all other ingredients apart from the chocolate. Mix everything well.

Florentine cookies showing mixing the ingredients

3. Place teaspoonfuls of the mixture on the baking sheet, about 1 inch apart then flatten with a back of a spoon.

Florentine cookies showing mixture spaced on baking sheet

4. Bake for about 8 - 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 2 - 3 minutes until they harden then using a palette knife, transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

Tip

If the Florentines become too hard to remove, put them back into the oven for a few moments to allow them to soften.

Florentine cookies showing fresh from the oven

5. Now melt the chocolate in a basin over a saucepan of barely simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl doesn't touch the water.

6. Spread a little melted chocolate over the flat base of each Florentine using a palette knife, and leave to set, chocolate side up, on the cooling rack.Once set, you can turn them over and drizzle more chocolate over the tops if you like!

Store in an airtight container.

What chocolate can I use?

It's quite common to make a variety of florentines, some with white, milk and dark chocolate, so you can do that instead of all one type of chocolate if you wish!

If you enjoyed these florentine cookies and like the texture, check out our Cranberry and Orange Thins over on our sister website!

Recipe Card

Florentine Cookies

Yield: 20

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Florentine Cookies are a wonderful cookie type treat, with delicious nuts & fruit and coated on one side with white or dark or milk chocolate. Easy recipe!

Ingredients

50 g butter, 2oz
50 g demerara / brown sugar, 2oz
50 g golden or corn syrup, 2oz
50 g plain All Purpose flour, 2oz
4 red and green or natural glacé cherries finely chopped
50 g finely chopped candied peel or raisins, 2oz
50 g finely chopped mixed almonds, walnuts, pecans, pistachios, peanuts. (You can choose your favourites!), 2oz
175 g plain, milk or white chocolate or a variety of all three!, 6oz

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C (375°F). Line a baking tray with parchment paper. (If you don't, the florentines will be very difficult to remove)
Put the butter and syrup into a pan. Heat until the butter melts, remove from the heat, then add all other ingredients apart from the chocolate. Mix everything well.
Place teaspoonfuls of the mixture on the baking sheet, about 1 inch apart then flatten with a back of a spoon.
Bake for about 8 - 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 2 - 3 minutes until they harden then using a palette knife, transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

*** If the Florentines become too hard to remove, put them back into the oven for a few moments to allow them to soften.

Now melt the chocolate in a basin over a saucepan of barely simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl doesn't touch the water.
Spread a little melted chocolate over the flat base of each Florentine using a palette knife, and leave to set, chocolate-side up, on the cooling rack.
Store in an airtight container.

Delicious Sweet Snacks for Christmas

Here's a selection of delicious Sweet Snacks for Christmas and Thanksgiving

Pecan Caramel Monkey Bread

Pecan Caramel Monkey Bread, Easy recipe for how to make it. Sticky caramel-coated pieces of bread with a sprinkling of chocolate chips & pecan nuts baked in a bundt pan. A great pull-apart bread recipe using store-bought biscuits.

Mini Almond Pastries

Mini Almond Pastries.
These Mini Almond Pastries have a deliciously smooth, sweet, almond paste filling and are wrapped in crispy, light puff pastry. Quick and easy to make, and perfect for a tea time treat.

Scotcheroos

Scotcheroos, an easy no-bake cereal bar similar to rice krispie treats. Peanut butter, chocolate & butterscotch with a chocolate butterscotch topping. A chewy, soft, and crispy treat

Sesame Brown Sugar French Palmier Cookies

Easy Sesame Brown Sugar French Palmier Cookies, AKA Elephant Ears. These are a very easy to make crispy puff pastry cookie, filled with sesame seeds and brown sugar. Great for the holidays!

Pani Popo (Samoan Coconut Bread Rolls)

Pani Popo (Samoan Coconut Bread Rolls).
Pani Popo are deliciously soft, fluffy Samoan coconut bread buns, baked in a sweet and thick coconut sauce. Sticky soft bread rolls, ideal for breakfast, dessert or as a snack

Honey Bun Cupcakes with Honey Buttercream Frosting

Honey Bun Cupcakes are lovely and soft with great flavors of cinnamon and brown sugar and topped with a homemade honey buttercream frosting

Mini Donut Balls

Mini Donut Balls.
Delicious homemade mini donut balls, rolled in cinnamon and sugar, using a poolish starter to give tender and flavorful dough. Easy recipe and great for parties

Easy English Tiffin

Easy English Tiffin is a delicious no-bake British colonial recipe, made of chocolate, crushed cookies, syrup, and raisins, often served at English afternoon tea.

Easy Honey Baklava

Easy Honey Baklava. Baklava is a Middle Eastern classic sweet treat, filled with a variety of nuts, honey, citrus, and spices, between layers of crunchy phyllo pastry. Ideal for serving at parties, or to have as a snack. An easy and simple recipe for the best baklava!