Vegan Florentines

These vegan Florentines are going to be your new favourite biscuit recipe!! They are packed with flavour yet are completely vegan, gluten-free and oil-free! They take 12 minutes to bake and can be ready to eat within an hour! 

Traditional Florentines contain no flour or eggs but I went a step further and also made them without butter or oil! I make these every year during the Autumn and the recipe is so adaptable you can use whatever ingredients you have available. 

A thin layer of chocolate on the bottom of these vegan Florentines makes for the perfect bite! Your friends and family will be dying to know the recipe! 

If you’re not a fan of Florentines or chocolate, feel free to check out my other recipes here! 

Baking tips:

These biscuits/cookies are super simple to make but a here’s a few key tips from my many experiments to guarantee perfect Florentines every time.  

1. The most common mistake with Florentines is making them too thick before they bake. If the cookies are thicker than 1/2 a centimetre the edges will caramelise first while the inside remains soft. This will result in soft cookies that don’t have the signature snap! This recipe makes 10-12 cookies so if you find that you only have enough mix for less than 10 then chances are you’re probably making them too thick.

When you’re spreading the mix inside the cookie cutter/ring mould, don’t worry about a few tiny gaps. It’s better to have them too thin than too thick. The sugar will melt during the baking and fill some of the holes, leaving you with a perfectly firm Florentine! 

2. Make sure you cut all your nuts and dried fruit on the smaller side. It’s ok to have a few larger chunks but generally you want a mix of sizes so that the large pieces are connected with smaller pieces!

3. Ideally you want two sizes of ring moulds – one about 5cm to create the Florentines and then a 6cm one for rounding out the shape of the Florentines after they bake. I have a set of the below circular cookie cutters which come in handy time and time again! You can find them online and they are super affordable!

4. As mentioned above, once the Florentines are baked, use a slightly larger cookie cutter to round out the Florentines. Just place the ring over the biscuit and carefully pull the cookie inwards and round out any sharp or loose edges! 

5. If you’re a chocolate whizz, it’s great to temper the chocolate on these cookies. When tempered, both the cookie and the chocolate will have a lovely snap! I won’t put a full chocolate tempering tutorial here as it’s a very particular science (and art!) but here’s a very handy guide from Gretchen’s vegan bakery!

6. I use a silicone mat for my florentines which makes them very easy to remove once baked. You can also use baking parchment though I would suggest sticking it down with some sugar to prevent it moving. 

7. Feel free to get creative with your ingredients! You can swap the pistachios for any other nuts and you can use any dried fruit you like! Just stick to the weight ratios and you’ll be good to go. 

Onto the recipe!!!

For this recipe you’ll need:

• 5cm cookie cutter/ring mould (and ideally a 6cm or 7cm one too) 

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Vegan Florentines

October 3, 2021

Servings: 12

Prep: 10 min

Cook: 12 min

Total: 30 min

Difficulty: Easy

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These heavenly vegan Florentines are gluten-free, oil-free and are about to be your new favourite cookie recipe! Are these a cookie or a biscuit? Who cares! They're delicious! Packed with pistachios, dried cranberries, candied citrus peel and much more! You won't be able to resist these fan favourite treats!

By: Project Vegan Baking

Ingredients

• 60g flaked almonds
• 60g candied citrus peel (orange or lemon)
• 60g chopped nuts (I use a mix of pistachio and hazelnut)
• 30g dried fruit (cranberries, sultanas or raisins)
• 25g glacé ginger, finely chopped
• 60g maple syrup
• 40g icing sugar
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 100g dark chocolate

Directions

• Step 1 Preheat the oven to 180C (356F).
• Step 2 Add all the nuts and fruit ingredients into a large mixing bowl with the icing sugar and stir to coat evenly.
• Step 3 Add the maple syrup to a pot on the stove with the cornstarch and 2 tbsp of water.
• Step 4 Turn on a low heat and stir the mix until it reaches a simmer. If you have a candy thermometer, make sure the liquid gets to boiling point. If you do not have one, cornstarch thickens at 95C so wait until the mixture thickens slightly and/or you see plenty of bubbles and then turn off the heat.
• Step 5 Add all the dry mix into the pot and stir to coat evenly.
• Step 6 Line a baking tray with parchment or a silicone mat.
• Step 7 Scoop tablespoon amounts of the Florentine mix into a cookie cutter with a diameter of 5-7cm on the tray and push them down to compact the cookie.
• Step 8 Lift up the cookie cutter to leave the shape of a perfectly round Florentine. Cookies should be less than ½ inch thick and at least 2cm apart. Repeat this process for the remainder of the batter, baking 6 Florentines on one tray at a time.
• Step 9 Place the tray in the oven to bake for 11-12 minutes until you see browning on the edges. It is better to slightly overbake than underbake as these cookies need to hit “hard crack” stage of sugar melting for the cookie to be firm when cool.
• Step 10 Remove from the oven and leave to cool to room temperature.
• Step 11 Melt the dark chocolate using the ban-marie method (heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water) or in the microwave using 20 second bursts.
• Step 12 Dip the bottoms of the Florentines in the melted chocolate and place onto a non-stick surface. Use a fork to score waves into the chocolate for an attractive patterned effect.
• Step 13 Put the cookies somewhere cool and airtight for the chocolate to set then serve and enjoy!