A week of florentines

It’s kinda funny that Tiff should bring back some of Pierre Herme’s florentines to share with me (thank you – yummy!) when the very week she was away, I baked some of my own. Thinking alike or what?! But I know we’re both very particular about our florentines and we each have our favourite experiences of them. Both of them happened to be in Paris: Tiff’s at Jean-Paul Hevin’s chocolate boutique & mine, the mini ones at A La Mere de Famille, Paris’ oldest sweets shop. But one thing’s for sure...we like them thin and crisp, with just a little chewiness, especially if they’ve got juicy currants in them.


I’d purchased the book “Paris Boulangerie-Patisserie: Recipes from Thirteen Outstanding French Bakeries” from Amazon sometime last year in preparation for my trip to Europe. It’s full of recipes from Paris institutions like Laduree, Lenotre, Gerard Mulot, Poilane etc. The photos look a little dated, but I don’t think the recipes from these places can really date! Until last week, I hadn’t got round to making anything from it, but I had my eye on La Maison du Chocolat’s florentine recipe for some time.

They were pretty easy to make and I was so happy with the results. They were crisp, sweet & chewy, courtesy of the candied orange peel and currants (the latter I substituted for the candied cherries which I couldn’t get my hands on at the time). And thanks to some egg rings I picked up in a $2 discount shop, the florentines kept their shape nicely. I did try doing a bit of free-form…but let’s just say it was like the florentine version of The Blob!

I liked them so much I made a second batch. And now that I’ve got my hands on some candied amarena cherries just this week (the end of a 2-year search!), it won’t be long before I’ll whip these babies up again! N