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Mariel here. With Santa arriving in less than a week, it seemed only logical to post a cookie for this month’s Secret Recipe Club. I took a stroll on over to My Danish Cooking, which chronicle’s Gitte’s endeavors to keep her Danish traditions alive while living with her husband and grown son in the US. She has some truly delightful creations on her site and it took me a long time to decide what to prepare. I landed on these Florentine Cookies since they reminded me of a favorite bakery treat of yesteryear: crispy lace cookies with a thin layer of chocolate nestled betwixt.
Swapping out only the all-purpose flour and light corn syrup, these lived up to all my expectations – and the splash of orange zest added the perfect touch. I’d make these again and again and I’d gander a guess that they’d be a welcome change-up from Santa’s usual diet of Chocolate Chip and Sugar Cookies. They feel fancy but are relatively easy to prepare, which is always a plus when I’m laying down the hammer in the kitchen, and since they’re packed with almonds, I suspect they have marginally more nutritional value than your average Yuletide treat. But let’s be honest – who cares about such things during the holidizzles? Not I nor my waistline. A very merry to you and yours!
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Lacy Florentine Cookies with Almonds and Chocolate
Makes about 12-15 sandwich cookies
Adapted from My Danish Kitchen
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups slivered blanched almonds – $4.79
3 tbsp whole wheat flour – stock
Zest of 1 orange (about 2 tbsp) – $0.89
1/4 teaspoon salt – stock
3/4 cup sugar – stock
2 Tablespoons heavy cream – $1.50
2 Tablespoons honey – stock
5 Tablespoons unsalted butter – stock
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract – stock
6 oz semisweet chocolate – $3.00
Grand total assuming well-stocked kitchen: $10.18
Cost per cookie: $0.67
Directions:
1. Pulse the almonds in a food processor until finely chopped, but not pasty. Stir together the almonds, flour, zest and salt in a large bowl.
2. Put the sugar, cream, honey and butter in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a rolling boil and sugar is completely dissolved. Continue to boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
3. Pour mixture into almond mixture and stir until just combined. Set aside until cool enough to handle, about 30 minutes.
4. In the meantime, position a rack in the center of oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
5. Scoop rounded teaspoons of batter and roll into balls. Place on prepared baking sheets, leaving 3 to 4 inches between each cookie since they spread – a lot.
6. Bake 1 pan at a time, until the cookies are thin and even golden brown color, rotating pan halfway through baking time, about 9 to 12 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool. This is when the cookies really crisp up. Repeat with remaining batter.
7. Chop semisweet chocolate (or use morsels) and place in a medium heatproof bowl. Bring a saucepan filled with 1-inch water to a simmer and set bowl filled with chocolate over the saucepan, making sure bowl is not touching water. Stir chocolate occasionally until melted and smooth.
8. Drop a generous amount of melted chocolate (about a teaspoon) onto the flat side of a cookie and press together with a second cookie to form a sandwich. Return to rack and let chocolate set completely.
These look awesome, gals!
These look so wonderful!
These dainty cookies look perfect for a holiday swap or to take to a neighbor’s to wish them a Merry Christmas! Great SRC post.
Happy Holidays!
These look crazy delicious! Yum!
Oh they remind me of something my mum used to make with whipped cream in the middle – bringing back some lovely memories ๐
Those are jumping off the screen at me! I love the combination of chewy and gooey.
Very nice! There are some of my favorite cookies – in Sweden we have something similar and call them oatmeal wafers – you can find them in Ikea too ๐
oh my goodness! what a treasure~! saving this!
I’ve never actually made florentine cookies myself but they are definitely among my favorites!
Good choice, these are one of my favorite cookies as well. Your version of the Florentine cookies looks wonderful. Thank you for visiting my site ๐
These look so pretty! I didn’t realize these were Danish. SRC is so fun, you learn something new each month.
These are beautiful cookies! The addition of the orange zest is genius. It adds a freshness that I love!
Stunning cookies and a must make soon for me. Glad to be part of SRC group C with you. Happy Holidays!!
Absolutely beautiful cookies and stunning pictures! : )
Beautiful! Would love to try these!
Great recipe for SRC! Thank you so much for the fantastic carrot recipe. I’ll be back to try some more ๐ Kate
These sound divine!
Beautiful! Anything orange and chocolate is a plus in my books!
What yummy looking cookies. You picked a great reccipe for SRC. Merry Christmas.
Fantastic pick!!! These look scrumptious…especially with that chocolate filling ๐
that cookie looks simply amazing. almonds are pretty darn amazing. a simple hand-chopper turns them practically into flour. cheers and happy holidays!
Happy Holidays to you and your family, Steve! Hope your snow isn’t TOO deep yet! ๐
these Florentine cookies are so cute! so perfect for Santa’s arrival!
Happy Holidays!
I just discovered your blog and these cookies. What a treat ๐
Gorgeous cookies! How did you get the rectangular shape of cookies?
A sharp knife trimmed the edges for the photo op!! Cheers!