How to Make Florentine Cookies

These are my favorite Christmas cookie, have fun deciding which way to garnish them ... or try then ALL!

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• 2 cups finely chopped almonds (or pistachios or pecans)
• 2 1/2 T flour
• 1 egg
• 3 tsp. grated zest of 1 orange
• Pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 T heavy cream
• 2 T light corn syrup
• 6 T butter
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Powdered Sugar (optional)
• Semi-sweet Chocolate morsels (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Pulse the almonds in a food processor (or the bullet*) until finely chopped, pour into large bowl and add the orange zest, flour, and salt
   and set aside
3. Cream the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth, add the egg & heavy cream, corn syrup, & vanilla into the almond mixture and stir until combined.
4. Scoop rounded spoonfuls (teaspoons for small cookies, use tablespoons for larger ones). of batter and roll into balls. Place on prepared cookie sheet, & flatten slightly with fingers leaving about 3" between each cookie.
5. Bake 1 pan at a time, about 6 minutes, or until the cookies are golden
6. Cool about 5 minutes before attempting to remove from cookie sheet, use spatula carefully, the cookies are fragile. Cool completely on a wire rack and serve.

Tips & Warnings

• VARIATIONS: Instead of almonds, try pistachios or pecans Instead of powdered sugar drizzle melted chocolate on top (that is the most popular way) Place a chocolate morsel or 2 in the center of the cookie before baking Leave some of the nuts a little less ground for an extra crunch (as pictured)
• Allergy Alert
• Those with severe nut allergies cannot eat these!
• Same goes for chocolate allergies, so if you're planning on using the chocolate variation, leave some without so ALL of your guests can enjoy them!