Those lovely, lacy, decadent cookies in the photo are Florentines, and they’re easier than you might think to make. They pair well with a steaming cup of coffee, as shown here, and they’re so uptown Saturday night you’ll want to use your most beautiful cups to make the treat truly spectacular.
More about these PERFECT cups
Julie A. Knight of JAK POT Studio handmade these stunning midcentury modern mugs. Follow the link to check out her wares, and contact her through her Facebook page if interested in purchasing. You can also read the post I wrote about her several years ago–“EVERYDAY ARTIST: From Sesame Street to Printmaker to JAK POT.“
These mugs are indeed the true spirit of my happy kitchen, from their vibrant colors to their mid-mod-mad patterns. I’m so revved to finally own some of Julie’s work!!
Now back to that PERFECT cookie
The people of Florence, Italy, claim Florentines as their own, likely due to the name. But the truth of this cookie’s origin is a bit murky. I guess because it is so delectable, everyone wants to claim it!
Another story credits the royal kitchens of 17th century France as inventing Florentines in honor of Tuscan in-laws.
And not to slight the French or the Italians, who both have pretty awesome pastry pedigrees, but experts agree Florentines most likely came from Vienna, oft considered the pastry capital of the world. (The sweet vintage cream pitcher in the above photo DOES have an Italian pedigree, though!)
Why the Austrians called them Florentines remains a mystery. Maybe they were a version of something similar from the Florence region? Who knows? And who cares? I just love eating them.
I made up a batch this weekend–first in a year or so–and I’d forgotten how incredibly rich they are.
The most common version is flavored with dark chocolate and orange zest, which is my favorite, but I usually make some with white chocolate, too.
If you don’t like orange, substitute lemon or lime zest with white chocolate and cinnamon or coffee (use instant) with dark chocolate. Some bakers and bakeries also make Florentines with nuts other than almonds and various dried fruits. I tried some with walnuts and dried cherries and cranberries but didn’t like them well-enough to make again.
Finding the PERFECT recipe
I did quite a bit of Internet research before making this cookie and opted to use a recipe by Giada De Laurentiis posted on the Food Network website. Follow the link to find ingredients, directions and even a video of Giada making the cookies.
If you read through comments by people who tried her recipe, you’ll soon discover it’s a tricky cookie to make. One baker who had great success chided the others to follow the instructions, and that’s what I did. To. The. Letter. No shortcuts or winging it. If you do, you’ll have terrific Florentines. If you don’t, you’ll have a sticky, icky mess.
PERFECTING the perfect recipe
Technique can ALWAYS be improved though.
As I said, before I chose which Florentine recipe to try, I researched a lot of versions on the Internet. And while I wouldn’t change a thing about Giada’s recipe ingredient-wise. a lot of bakers had trouble with spread, uneven size, and sticking.
It pays to read the comments no matter what recipe you intend to use because I found a tip in the comments on another cooking site that makes Giada’s Florentines fullproof.
That was to bake the cookies using whoopie-pie pans instead of a lined baking sheet. So I bought myself some before I tried making Florentines, and man-oh-man was it a game-changer!
The shallow, round indentations of the whoopie-pie pan solve the problem of spread and uneven size. The pan only allows the cookie to spread so far, and all the cookies come out same-sized, ready to be made into sandwiches layered with chocolate.
If the pans are non-stick–and most are these days–a light spritz with cooking oil before the first batch keeps all subsequent batches from sticking.
Here are a few other tips I found to make my Florentines turn out PERFECTLY:
- Use a small appetizer spoon, heaped a bit, to portion batter. Too much and the cookies don’t bake well in the center or acquire the lacy quality you want. I think Giada uses too much batter in the video and her cookies are too big.
- Watch bake time closely. Because Giada uses too much batter she lists bake time as 10 minutes. My electric oven at the condo baked my appetizer-spoon portions in six minutes. My gas oven at our new house takes seven. Much more than that and they burn up. But don’t be afraid if some get a little browner than others; they’ll still taste great. Remember, a PERFECT Florentine should shatter when bitten into.
- Allow cookies to set up a bit before removing from the whoopie-pie pans–five minutes or so. They need to be cool enough to touch. You’ll know they’re ready to remove when you can rotate them in the pan with your thumb and forefinger without smooshing them.
- Then scoot them out and place between layers of paper towel to absorb excess fat. (Lots of butter in these babies, remember.) But don’t leave them on the paper towel more than five minutes or you’ll be eating paper towel. Transfer to fresh baking parchment to complete the cooling process with no sticking.
- I like to drizzle a bit of chocolate over the top for decoration and to amp up the yum factor, but I’m still perfecting my drizzling technique. I’ve found that after spreading the chocolate sandwich layer, it helps to thin remaining chocolate with cooking oil or melted shortening so it will drizzle better. This will not affect the flavor of the chocolate as long as you use a neutral-flavor oil (no olive oil, for instance).
PERFECTING your timing
While Florentines are a bit time-consuming, they can be made in shifts. For instance, when I made this batch…
- I prepped the dry ingredients and set aside. Then I prepped the ingredients to be cooked, with the exception of the cream, and set aside.
- Later in the day I added the cream to the portion to cook and brought ingredients to a boil per instructions.
- Giada says to cool batter 20 minutes before baking, and you can actually let it cool longer if you’re busy.
- After baking, the cookies must cool thoroughly and firm up before filling with chocolate. So filling can actually wait until another day.
- Let chocolate set up in the freezer for five minutes or the fridge for 15. Giada says if you want to freeze the cookies, hold off on filling them. But I’ve frozen them with chocolate in-between and on top, and they held up beautifully. They even taste good right out of the freezer!
I bet you think I forgot the PERFECT cuppa pairings for these babies
Ha! Not on your life!!
Black coffee’s great. Coffee with cream is even better. That’s for late morning or afternoon cookie munching, mind you.
But after 5 p.m., the MOST perfect pairing with the dark chocolate version of this cookie is red wine–preferably a cabernet or red blend.
And so you’ll be covered WHEREVER these cookies actually came from, Saluti! as they say in Florence, Sante! as they say in Paris, Prost! as they say in Vienna, and Cheers! as they say on Freeman Street.
Here’s to another PERFECT day,
If you want more…
- Make some of these cookies! Follow the link to the recipe and video.
- Check out JAK POT Studio and the work of potter Julie A. Knight.
- Contact Julie regarding purchase information through the JAK POT Studio Facebook page.
- Read my EVERYDAY ARTIST interview with Julie from January 2017.
- Buy yourself some supplies to help you make the perfect Florentines following the (affiliate) links below: