Last year, I baked some almond florentines and I loved them for the perfect marriage between the toasted nuts and caramel. There are numerous recipes online for florentines and many still using florentine powder. I don’t why, but I am not inclined to using premix, maybe because I like to know what goes into my bakes. That, however, does not apply to things like pineapple pastes and puff pastries (am biased like that ;p). I think I found the recipe I really love and will be using for future florentine bakes from here. Here’s the slightly adapted recipe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Makes a tray of size 32cm by 22cm, I chose to cut into rectangles, option is to cut into rounds)

Ingredients

  • 170g almond flakes (I used both the skinned and non skinned and I like the non skinned look better or mix with pumpkin seeds)
  • 60g caster sugar
  • 60g unsalted butter
  • 40g mixed citrus peel (or 15g mixed peel and 25g cranberries for the colour contrast)
  • 35g cream
  • 25g sesame seeds (I used black ones for the colour contrast)
  • 25g honey
  • 25g glucose
  • 10g plain flour
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • a pinch of salt

Method

  1. Line the tray with baking paper and preheat the oven to 170 degrees.
  2. Toast the almond flakes and sesame seeds till lightly brown.
  3. Combine toasted almond flakes and sesame seeds, citrus peel, flour, salt and vanilla extract with a wooden spoon and set aside.
  4. In a pot, heat caster sugar, butter, cream, honey and glucose till boiling.
  5. Pour this boiling liquid carefully over the ingredients in step 3 and mix till all ingredients are coated evenly with the liquid mix.
  6. While the mixture is still warm, spread them thinly and evenly on the prepared tray and bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.
  7. When baked and while still warm, cut into desired portions. Do not wait till totally cool because it will be difficult to cut when the florentines harden and become brittle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was popular with the colleagues and their families and I would bake this again next year for Lunar new year, but maybe again some time this year.