Chocolate-Dipped Florentines

Chocolate-Dipped Florentines baked, dipped, and cooling. Image by Gwynne Middleton.

My family knows Christmas is near when I break out the ingredients for florentines. From the fresh candied orange peel to the use of almond meal, the ingredients list is short for this wintry recipe and takes its cue from Europe and the Mediterranean region. These Chocolate-Dipped Florentines are crisp Italian cookies that can be enjoyed on their own, but I love having one alongside a strong cup of coffee.

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Chocolate-Dipped Florentines

Make 24 Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup heavy cream

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 3 TBS butter

• 1 1/4 cups almond meal

• 3/4 cup finely chopped candied orange peel

• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

• 2 oz. semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Then, in a saucepan, mix together cream, sugar, and butter. Bring the mixture to a boil.

2. Remove from heat, and stir in the almond meal, candied orange peel, and all-purpose flour until just blended.

3. Use about 1 tablespoon of dough for each cookie, and roll each tablespoon's-worth of dough in your hand to make a ball. (I wet my hands with water before rolling the dough between them because of the dough's stickiness.)

4. Place each cookie dough ball about 3 inches apart on an oiled and lightly floured cookie sheet. (We have a Silpat silicone baking mat, but I still ran a little butter over it and dusted it with flour.)

5. Flatten each cookie dough ball with a wet spatula. You'll need to keep wetting the spatula to prevent the dough from sticking to it. Also, flatten them as much as you can. I was reticent with my dough flattening, and my cookies were puffier than I intended.

6. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let them stand for about 5 minutes. Then, remove cookies to a wire rack set inside a baking sheet, and let them cool completely.

7. After the cookies are cool, melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave, for anywhere between 30 to 45 seconds. Then, dip half of each cookie in the melted chocolate and place back on the wire rack. Move the wire rack to the freezer for 10 minutes until the chocolate has hardened.

8. At this point, keep the cookies chilled to prevent the chocolate from melting and smearing up your life. If you decide to eat them without the chocolate glaze, you can store in an airtight container without refrigeration for a couple of weeks.