Florentine Lace Cookies from "Cook’s Illustrated" magazine

   

 After receiving a complimentary copy of "Cook’s Illustrated" magazine and an offer for a discounted subscription price, Barry urged me to send a check. I did.

     When the November & December 2013 issue arrived, this recipe immediately caught my eye. I have made lace cookies before but never any that rivals this recipe! These cookies are outstanding . . . and the instructions and explanations are helpful.

     I took photos as I went but there’s also a video on Cook’s Illustrated website.

     We highly recommend this magazine, and these cookies! And, they will now be an annual additional to our holiday cookie trays.

Florentine Lace Cookies   Recipe states a yield of 24 cookies; I followed exact instructions and my yield was 34 cookies

2 
cups slivered almonds

¾ cup heavy cream

4 
tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces

½ cup (3½ oz.) granulated sugar

¼  cup orange marmalade

3 
tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 
teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon grated orange zest

¼ teaspoon salt

4 
ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine

1.  Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

2.  Process almonds in food processor until they resemble coarse sand, about 30 seconds.



3.  Bring cream, butter, and sugar to boil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until mixture begins to thicken, 5 to 6 minutes.

4.  Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until mixture begins to brown at edges and is thick enough to leave trail that doesn’t immediately fill in when spatula is scraped along pan bottom, 1 to 2 minutes longer (it’s OK if some darker speckles appear in mixture).

Hard to capture in a photo . . . but if you look carefully you
can see the trail where I ran the spoon across the bottom of the saucepan.

5.  Remove pan from heat and stir in almonds, marmalade, flour, vanilla, orange zest, and salt until combined.



The resulting mixture is thick and dough like.

6.  Drop 6 level tablespoons dough at least 3½ inches apart on each prepared sheet. When cool enough to handle, use damp fingers to press each portion into 2 1/2-inch circle.



7.  Bake until deep brown from edge to edge, 15 to 17 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking. Transfer cookies, still on parchment, to wire racks and let cool. Let baking sheets cool for 10 minutes, line with fresh parchment, and repeat portioning and baking remaining dough.



8.  Microwave 3 ounces chocolate in bowl at 50 percent power, stirring frequently, until about two-thirds melted, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove bowl from microwave, add remaining 1 ounce chocolate, and stir until melted, returning to microwave for no more than 5 seconds at a time to complete melting if necessary. Transfer chocolate to small zipper-lock bag and snip off corner, making hole no larger than 1/16 inch.

6. Transfer cooled cookies directly to wire racks. Pipe zigzag of chocolate over each cookie, distributing chocolate evenly among all cookies. Refrigerate until chocolate is set, about 30 minutes, before serving.

Chocolate is chopped.

Instead of melting 3 ounces of  chocolate in the microwave, I melted in over boiling water (in a make-shift double boiler consisting of a saucepan topped with a stainless steel mixing bowl).

When the chocolate was almost 2/3 melted, I removed the bowl from the heat and added the remaining one ounce of chopped chocolate. This process is referred to as "tempering" and helps avoid the white bloom that sometimes appears after melted chocolate has cooled.

I set the chocolate back over the hot water just long enough to stir and let the rest of the chocolate melt (just a minute or two at the most).

So that I could easily fill the plastic bag, I positioned it in a drinking glass and turned down the edge.

Wax paper arranged underneath the cooling rack of cookies allows for easy clean up later. 

"Cook's Illustrated"says these cookies can be stored at cool room temperature for up 4 days, but I put them in a covered container and kept them for at least a week (it was hard though as I wanted to immediately eat each and every one).

Recipe without photos . . .

Florentine Lace Cookies   Recipe states a yield of 24 cookies; I followed exact instructions and my yield was 34 cookies

2 
cups slivered almonds

¾ cup heavy cream

4 
tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces

½ cup (3½ oz.) granulated sugar

¼  cup orange marmalade

3 
tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 
teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon grated orange zest

¼ teaspoon salt

4 
ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine

1.  Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

2.  Process almonds in food processor until they resemble coarse sand, about 30 seconds.



3.  Bring cream, butter, and sugar to boil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until mixture begins to thicken, 5 to 6 minutes.

4.  Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until mixture begins to brown at edges and is thick enough to leave trail that doesn’t immediately fill in when spatula is scraped along pan bottom, 1 to 2 minutes longer (it’s OK if some darker speckles appear in mixture).

5.  Remove pan from heat and stir in almonds, marmalade, flour, vanilla, orange zest, and salt until combined.



6.  Drop 6 level tablespoons dough at least 3½ inches apart on each prepared sheet. When cool enough to handle, use damp fingers to press each portion into 2 1/2-inch circle.



7.  Bake until deep brown from edge to edge, 15 to 17 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking. Transfer cookies, still on parchment, to wire racks and let cool. Let baking sheets cool for 10 minutes, line with fresh parchment, and repeat portioning and baking remaining dough.



8.  Microwave 3 ounces chocolate in bowl at 50 percent power, stirring frequently, until about two-thirds melted, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove bowl from microwave, add remaining 1 ounce chocolate, and stir until melted, returning to microwave for no more than 5 seconds at a time to complete melting if necessary. Transfer chocolate to small zipper-lock bag and snip off corner, making hole no larger than 1/16 inch.

6. Transfer cooled cookies directly to wire racks. Pipe zigzag of chocolate over each cookie, distributing chocolate evenly among all cookies. Refrigerate until chocolate is set, about 30 minutes, before serving.
"Cook's Illustrated"says these cookies can be stored at cool room temperature for up 4 days, but I put them in a covered container and kept them for at least a week (it was hard though as I wanted to immediately eat each and every one).