These Gluten Free Dark Chocolate Cranberry Florentines are such a special treat filled with dried cranberries, a thin layer of dark chocolate and an abundance of nuts. They’re perfect with your cup of coffee or tea.
If you’ve always wanted to try baking florentines or learning to temper chocolate, I encourage you to give them a go. They are definitely worth the effort and are not that difficult to make.
Special thanks to Kirsten Tibballs who taught me how to temper chocolate with her youtube video on tempering chocolate. The original florentine recipe was also from her “Chocolate” cookbook. I just modified it slightly to suit my own taste preferences.
The Naughty Dietitian,
xoxo
- 125 g caster sugar
- 75 ml reduced fat cream
- 40 g honey
- 35 g liquid glucose
- 60 g unsalted butter
- 100 g flaked almonds
- 75 g hazelnuts, roughly chopped
- 50 g pistachios, roughly chopped
- 50 g dried cranberries, roughed chopped
- 25 g sesame seeds
- 230 g good quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used callebaut dark chocolate buttons)
Preheat oven to 170°C and line a baking tray with baking paper. Heat the sugar, cream, honey, glucose and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until brought to a boil and light golden in colour. Then remove the saucepan from the heat and add all of the remaining ingredients, except chocolate, stirring to combine.
Place 1 tablespoon of mixture, approximately 10cm apart, onto the baking paper and bake for 9-10 minutes or until golden. Remove the tray from the oven and whilst the florentines remain hot, use a round cookie cutter to draw the mixture back together and round off into separate biscuits. Leave to cool completely on the tray.
Temper the chocolate using Kirsten Tibball's microwave based chocolate tempering technique. Then dip the knife into the chocolate and spread a thin layer of chocolate on the base of the florentines. Leave the biscuits to set chocolate side up at room temperate. The florentines can be stored in an air tight container in the refrigerator or at room temperature (providing the room isn't too hot for the chocolate to melt).