Toffee Almond Florentines are delicate flourless, eggless almond toffee cookies with chocolate on top. I dare you to stop at one!

It hit me this week that in three months I’ll be back in Texas. I left home last year on July 3 so it’s been almost a year here in Asia. It’s been an incredible year of ups and downs.

My year here started with Study Abroad for Texas State University students. My daughter Becky tagged along for probably her last time – she graduates high school in June.

Our last pre-graduation mother-daughter trip was three weeks in the Philippines. Since it was our last trip, I let Becky plan the itinerary. She wasn’t very aware of how much airfare is so it was an ambitious (and a bit more expensive than I wanted) trip but we had an amazing time.

Once we returned to Cambodia from the Philippines, Becky and I fell into a rhythm. I’d go to work and Becky would work on school work and tutor kids around town. We couldn’t register her for school here so she did online courses and took a German class at the Goethe Institute. It was great mother-daughter time.

We were able to eat dinner together nearly every night, mother-daughter coffees and, of course, shopping expeditions. Becky went home to Texas in January so she could finish high school. She’s living with her older brother and she calls or messages me nearly every day but I miss having her around.

Toffee Almond Florentines are one of my favorite cookies. If you’ve ever had Laceys cookies, then you’ve had a florentine. They’re so amazing I have a tendency to eat all of the cookies in the container so I don’t buy them often.

I’ve been craving these for over a month now so I decided to make my own. It took 4 tries but I think I’ve nailed it. This recipe is easily halved so if you tend to over indulge like me, you can limit your calories by making a smaller number of cookies.

These cookies spread A LOT. One level teaspoon of dough spreads to become a 3.5″ (9 cm) diameter cookie. I learned the hard way you can only put 6 (or if you’re very careful 8) on a tray.  The first tray I made had 12 cookies on it which baked into one giant rectangular cookie. I’m not one for wasting fabulous cookies so I broke the giant cookie into pieces and served them as Toffee Almond Florentine “bark.”

 

Yield: about 3 dozen cookies

Florentines

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Ingredients

• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 Tablespoons heavy cream
• 2 Tablespoons corn syrup (or golden syrup)
• 5 Tablespoons melted butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• ½ cup almond flour
• ½ cup chopped almonds (about the consistency of minced garlic)
• ⅔ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (mini ones work best)

Instructions

1. Line a cookie sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
2. In a medium saucepan mix together sugar, cream, corn syrup, and melted butter.
3. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture boils and starts to turn golden brown.
4. Add vanilla, almond flour, and chopped almonds.
5. Let cool about 10 minutes until it firms up a little (it will be a VERY soft dough).
6. These cookies spread A LOT so you can only bake 6 on a large pan. You need only one teaspoon of dough per cookie so space the 6 teaspoons of dough evenly around your pan.
7. Bake at 350°F for 5-7 minutes (until golden brown). Watch cookies closely because they can burn quickly. Let cool in the pan until solidified.
8. While the cookies are warm and still in the pan put 1-2 teaspoons of mini chocolate chips on each cookie. When the chocolate softens, use the back of a spoon to spread it around the cookie.
9. Let cool another 5-10 minutes in the pan before transferring to a rack to cool completely. I put mine in the refrigerator to speed things up. Carefully peel the silicone mat or parchment paper away from each cookie.
10. Store in a cool dry place.

Notes

You can make almond flour by food processing almonds until they are finely ground but not pasty.

If you want a faster way to make these, you can put 12 cookies on a sheet. They will bake together into one rectangular blob. Sprinkle ¼ cup mini chocolate chips on top of the giant cookie, spread with a spoon, and let cool. Then use a knife to cut the giant cookie into squares or break into pieces like chocolate bark.

You might also like these delicate butter wafer cookies

Or these Toffee Almond Cookies from My Baking Addiction.

Or these salted chocolate walnut toffee bars from Melissa’s Southern Style Kitchen.