These golden hued disks of sliced almonds are crisp, shiny and supremely addictive.
What’s a Florentine you ask? It’s an Italian cookie that gets its name from where it originated, Florence, and is generally made with almonds and hazelnuts (the most abundantly used nuts in the region). Dried and candied fruits are also added sometimes. Traditional Florentines are painted with chocolate at the bottom – making it such a pleasant surprise.
These almond Florentines are a breeze to make. It literally takes less than 2 minutes to put the ingredients together and then it sits into the oven for 8-10 minutes to transform into toasted, crunchy cookies.
Word of caution: these weren’t easy to take off the magical silicone baking mat (shocking), so I’m pretty sure when you’re using parchment or greaseproof paper, they are going to be rather unforgiving. Make sure to brush the baking mat or parchment with a little oil to make things easier.
As soon as I took a bite, I wished I’d added a pinch of cinnamon. And then maybe some pieces of candied oranges. A perfect marriage of heavenly flavours.
They’re light and delicate, perfect with a cup of coffee. Crush them over a bowl of ice cream or caramelised apples or banana manna.
This recipe for almond Florentines is inspired from The Ottolenghi Cookbook (USA | UK | India)
Almond Florentines
Ingredients
- 2 egg whites
- 140g icing sugar
- 9 oz/ 260g flaked almonds
Method
- Preheat the oven to 150°C/290°F. Line a baking tray with either parchment or silicione baking mat.
- In a bowl, mix together the egg whites and icing sugar. Stir in the flaked almonds.
- Spoon the almond blobs on the baking sheet, flattening it with the spoon as you go.
- Bake for 6-8 minutes until they’re golden brown.
- Let it cool on the baking sheet for a bit. Then use a palette knife to remove the biscuits from the sheet. Eat up or store in a jar for upto 4 days.