Chocolate Florentines

Makes 12

These took me a long day of experimenting, with numerous failed batches and you don’t even want to know how many almonds, to get them looking, crunching and most importantly tasting right! I’ve always loved regular florentines and I was surprised at how difficult it was to make a healthy version. Just as my patience was starting to fade, a perfect batch came out of the oven, and finally all my work was worth it. They’re perfectly crispy while still having a gorgeous chewiness. Simple and sweet.

Start by putting the maple syrup and coconut oil together in a saucepan on medium heat until melted together, then set aside.

Give the sliced almonds a good rough chop, of course some whole slices is fine but do a thorough chop. Then combine the sliced almonds with the almond flour.

Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry and mix.

With your hands mold the mixture into little balls. They won’t be perfect balls and you’ll have to press them firmly together to stop them crumbling. Lay them out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and then flatten them using the back of a spoon, use your fingers to press the sides back together if they break up too much.

Bake at 180’C for about 12 minutes.

Take them out and carefully transfer the parchment paper to a wirer ack and let them cool completely. While they’re cooling melt the dark chocolate in a bain-marie.

When they’re cool drizzle the chocolate over them. Enjoy!