Florentines

Ingredients

• 1.3 cups almonds finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons butter 
• 0.8 cup candied orange peel finely chopped
• 0.3 cup flour 
• 0.5 cup heavy cream 
• 0.5 cup sugar 

Equipment

• baking sheet
• sauce pan
• oven
• wire rack
• spatula
• offset spatula

Directions

1. In a saucepan, mix together 1/2 cup each of heavy cream and sugar and 3 tablespoons butter and bring the mixture to a boil.
2. Remove it from the heat and stir in 1 1/4 cups finely chopped almonds, 3/4 cup finely chopped candied orange peel, and 1/3 cup flour. Drop the batter from a tablespoon into mounds about 3 inches apart on oiled and lightly floured cookie sheets and flatten each cookie with a wet spatula.
3. Bake the cookies in a moderate oven (350°F) for about 10 minutes.
4. Remove them from the oven and let them stand for about 5 minutes.
5. Remove the cookies to a wire rack, let them cool completely, and spread them with chocolate glaze. Chill them.
6. Chocolate Glaze
7. Melt 1 ounce each of unsweetened chocolate and sweet cooking chocolate over simmering water.
8. Add 2 tablespoons butter and 1 teaspoon honey and stir the glaze until the butter is melted. For an easier glaze, use melted bittersweet chocolate.
9. Recipe Notes
10. Use a small offset spatula to spread the dough into thin rounds on the baking sheet.
11. Use 2 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted, for the glaze.
12. From The Gourmet Cookie Book: The Single Best Recipe from Each Year 1941-2009 by Condé Nast Publications. Copyright © 2010 by Condé Nast Publications; photographs copyright © 2010 by Condé Nast Publications. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.