Gluten Free Florentines Lacy Italian Cookies Food

FLORENTINES (ITALY)

Steps:

• Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
• Pulse the almonds in a food processor until finely chopped, but not pasty. Stir together the nuts, flour, zest and salt in a large bowl.
• Put the sugar, cream, corn syrup 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 the vanilla, then pour mixture into almond mixture and stir just to combine. Set aside until cool enough to handle, 30 minutes.
• Scoop rounded teaspoons (for 3-inch cookies) or rounded tablespoons (for 6-inch cookies) of batter and roll into balls. Place on prepared baking sheet, leaving about 3 to 4 inches between each cookie since they spread.
• Bake 1 pan at a time, until the cookies are thin and an even golden brown color throughout, rotating pans halfway through baking time, about 10 to 11 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve.
• Optional chocolate topping: Put the chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Bring a saucepan filled with 1 inch or so of water to a very low simmer; set the bowl over, but not touching, the water. Stir the chocolate occasionally until melted and smooth. (Alternatively, put the chocolate in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Melt at 50 percent power in the microwave until soft, about 1 minute. Stir, and continue heat until completely melted, about 1 to 2 minutes more.)
• For sandwiches: Drop about 1/2 teaspoon chocolate onto on the flat side of half of the cookies and press together with remaining halves. Return to rack and let chocolate set.
• For chocolate decor: Drizzle melted chocolate over Florentines as desired. Set aside at room temperature until chocolate is set.

ITALIAN FLORENTINE COOKIES

Steps:

• Prepare a grill for indirect heat. If using a charcoal grill, build the hot coals on one side only. If using a gas grill, heat one side only to medium-high heat.
• Add the sugar, butter, cream and honey to a heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil over direct heat. Whisk until the sugar dissolves.
• Stir together the crushed almonds, flour, salt and orange zest in a large bowl, then pour into the sugar mixture and mix to combine. Allow the mixture to cool, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. (The batter can be chilled overnight if you have the time.)
• Invert a cast-iron skillet over direct heat and place a piece of foil on it. Spoon teaspoon-sized amounts of batter onto the skillet, pressing out so the almonds are distributed evenly. Move the skillet over indirect heat and bake until the cookies bubble and caramelize, about 3 minutes. Remove the skillet from the grill and place the foil on a cutting board to allow the cookies to cool faster.
• Once cool, gently peel the cookies off the foil and serve!
• (Alternatively, you can bake the cookies on aluminum foil-lined baking sheets in a 350 degrees F oven until they bubble and caramelize, 10 to 12 minutes.)

LACE COOKIES WITH CHOCOLATE (FLORENTINE COOKIES)

Steps:

• Place 1 1/2 cups of whole raw almonds into a food processor and pulse them on high speed until they chop up into fine crumbs. Then set them aside.
• In a medium saucepan add 1/2 cup unsalted butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar, and 1/4 cup honey. Stir using a metal whisk.
• Once it comes to a boil, turn the heat off and remove the saucepan from the heat.
• Then stir in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and 3 tbsp all-purpose flour.
• Now, use a spatula to mix in the finely chopped almonds. 
• Then scoop out about 1/2 tablespoon-sized scoops of the cookie dough onto a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat. If you don't have a silicone mat, parchment paper works too. But the mats will result in more even baking.
• Make sure to place each scoop of the lace cookie dough at least 3 inches apart. They will spread a lot when they bake.
• Now preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Then take each piece of cookie batter and roll it out to a ball, and place it half onto the baking sheet.
• Place each baking sheet in the center rack (one at a time). Then bake for 8 minutes making sure to turn once after 4 minutes.
• While the cookies are looking, melt 1 1/2 cups of semisweet chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl until fully melted. Always be sure to do this in intervals with stirring in between to avoid scorching the chocolate.
• Now take 1 Florentine cookie and gently spread a little bit of the melted chocolate on the back of it, then place a similar sized cookie on top. So you want the back of each cookie to sandwich the chocolate in between them.
• Let the chocolate set for about 1-2 hours before serving.

LACE COOKIES (FLORENTINE COOKIES)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with a silicone liner (such as Silpat®).
• Place almonds into the bowl of a food processor; alternate pulsing and running at full speed every few seconds until finely chopped and crumblike. Be careful not to go too far; you don't want them too fine and pasty.
• Combine butter, brown sugar, and honey in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir a few times and cook until melted and dissolved. Bring to a boil, then carefully remove from the heat.
• Add vanilla extract, salt, and flour, and whisk until smooth. Add chopped almonds and mix with a spatula until everything is combined.
• Drop eight uniformly sized, rounded spoonfuls of batter (each about 2 teaspoons, or 15 grams) onto the prepared sheet. Fine-tune the cookie shapes and make sure they are evenly spaced.
• Place in the center of the preheated oven and bake until golden brown and a bit darker around the outsides, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.
• Remove from the oven and slide the silicone liner off the baking sheet and directly onto the countertop. Allow to sit until cool and crisp, 3 to 5 minutes, then gently peel cookies off the liner. Repeat to bake remaining batches.
• Spread melted chocolate over the flat side of one cookie. Place a second cookie, flat-side down, on top to make a sandwich and press very gently to seal. Repeat to form remaining cookies. Let sit until chocolate has firmed up, about 30 minutes.