Florentine Sundaes Recipes

FLORENTINES

Steps:

• Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Line a heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper. Stir the almonds, flour and zest in a medium bowl. Stir the sugar, butter, cream, and honey in a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring the mixture to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the almond mixture. Cool the batter for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Using 2 teaspoons of batter for each cookie, spoon 8 mounds of the batter onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing evenly apart (the cookies will spread). Flatten the batter slightly with your finger.
• Bake the cookies until they are lacy and golden brown, about 10 minutes. Gently slide the parchment paper with the cookies onto a rack and cool completely. Transfer the cookies to paper towels. Repeat with the remaining batter, lining the baking sheets with clean parchment for each batch. (The cookies can be made up to this point 2 months ahead. Cool completely, then store airtight in the freezer. Defrost before continuing.)
• Stir the chocolate in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water until the chocolate melts. Spread the melted chocolate over the bottom of 1 cookie. Top with a second cookie, bottom side down, pressing lightly to adhere. Repeat with the remaining cookies and chocolate.

BEEF FLORENTINE

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef until evenly brown; drain excess fat. Season with oregano, salt and pepper. Stir in tomato sauce and water. Remove from heat, and stir in cooked noodles.
• In a medium bowl, combine spinach, cottage cheese, onion, and Parmesan cheese. Spread half of noodle mixture in a large casserole dish. Layer with all of spinach mixture, then cover with remaining noodle mixture.
• Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Cover with mozzarella, and continue cooking 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

FLORENTINE SQUARES

Steps:

• Adjust rack to lower third of oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a 12-x-15 1/2-x-1/2-inch baking sheet with aluminum foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang at each short end.
• Batter: Pour the cream, corn syrup, and sugar into a 1 1/2-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir to combine, then add the butter. Stir over medium-low heat until the butter melts. Then raise the heat to medium, and stir constantly with a wooden spoon--especially toward the end of cooking--to prevent scorching. Cook until the mixture reaches 238 degrees F, the soft-ball stage, on a candy thermometer, about 10 minutes; the mixture will appear between ivory- and straw-colored. Remove from heat, and stir in almonds.
• Pour the mixture onto the center of the foil-lined baking sheet, and spread it in as thin a layer as possible. A pool about 8 inches in diameter is fine. Bake for 3 minutes; then spread the more liquid mixture evenly over the baking sheet. If the mixture still does not completely cover the baking sheet, bake another minute, then tilt the baking sheet to allow the mixture to spread evenly. Bake for about 5 to 6 minutes total, or until golden but not dark brown. Though the mixture bubbles while baking, the bubbles form more slowly toward the end of baking time than at the beginning.
• Place the baking sheet on a wire rack and cool for 2 to 3 minutes. While the mixture is still warm but no longer liquid, cut 1 1/2-inch squares using a ruler and a pastry wheel. If the mixture is too warm, it will not cut cleanly. If it is too cool, it will splinter or not cut; in that case return it to the oven for a few seconds to soften it a bit.
• Decoration: When the squares are completely cool, place the chocolate in a bowl over water at about 120 degrees F. When about two-thirds of the chocolate has melted, remove the bowl from the water. With a dry rubber spatula, stir until the liquid chocolate melts the soft or unmelted chocolate that remains. Fill a small handmade paper cone with the chocolate and snip off the tip. Pipe thin lines of chocolate back and forth over the squares' surface. Refrigerate the squares briefly, just to set the chocolate. Remove from the refrigerator and set aside in a cool, dry place.
• To store, remove squares from the foil and place them in layers, separated by strips of aluminum, in an airtight metal or plastic container in a cool place up to 1 week.

BROWNIE SUNDAES

Steps:

• Melt the heavy cream, chocolate chips, and instant coffee in a bowl over simmering water until smooth, stirring occasionally. Place a brownie on each plate, top with a scoop of ice cream, and serve with warm chocolate sauce.;

FLORENTINE SUNDAES

Steps:

• For each sundae: Fill a bowl, Martini glass, or widemouthed wineglass with 3 generous scoops of vanilla ice cream. Drizzle ice cream with a teaspoon or more of orange liqueur (such as Grand Marnier). Coarsely chop half of a Florentine cookie and sprinkle over the ice cream. Garnish with a whole cookie and 1 or 2 thin strips of orange peel (each about 2 to 3 inches long).

FLORENTINE SUNDAE

Steps:

• Place a pineapple slice in the bottom of four dessert dishes. Top with a scoop or two of sherbet. Sprinkle with grated chocolate, nuts and coconut. Serve immediately.© Copyright Reiman Publications, 1993-1997

FLORENTINE SUNDAE

Steps:

• Place a pineapple slice in the bottom of four dessert dishes. Top with a scoop or two of sherbet. Sprinkle with grated chocolate, nuts and coconut. Serve immediately.© Copyright Reiman Publications, 1993-1997

FLORENTINES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease baking sheets with shortening and dust with flour.
• Stir cream and sugar together in a bowl. Stir in orange peel, flour, and almonds until combined. Drop batter in teaspoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets, keeping each cookie well apart from each other.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack, about 30 minutes.
• Spread bottoms of cooled cookies with melted chocolate using a spatula, or spear cookies on a fork and dip bottoms into chocolate. Let dry, bottoms-up, on waxed paper.

FLORENTINES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C/gas 4. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment.Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a small saucepan over a low heat, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and whisk in the flour then add the cherries, flaked almonds, pistachios and orange zest.
• Scoop 10 flat tbsp of the mixture onto the baking sheets, leaving room for them to spread. You will need to do these in batches. Bake for 10 mins until golden. Leave to cool for 2 mins until firm enough to lift onto a wire rack. Cool completely. Repeat with the remaining mixture.
• Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a simmering saucepan of water or in the microwave in 30 second bursts. Turn the florentines over on the wire rack. Spoon chocolate onto the base of each florentine and gently spread to the edges. When the chocolate is firm enough to hold its shape, use a fork to draw wavy lines across the chocolate. Leave to set and then store in an airtight container.

NOODLES FLORENTINE

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, cook noodles according to package directions until tender. , In another saucepan, melt butter; stir in flour until smooth. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in the spinach, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Drain noodles. Add to spinach mixture; toss gently to coat. , Transfer to a greased shallow 2-qt. baking dish; sprinkle with cheese. Cover and bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until heated through.

FLORENTINE CARAMELIZED ONION SOUP

Steps:

• In a large heavy pot, heat oil over medium heat. Cut onions in half lengthwise, then slice thinly. Place sliced onions in pot and toss to coat with oil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened and beginning to color, 30 minutes.
• Increase heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, uncovered, until onions are amber in color, 45 minutes.
• Sprinkle onions with sugar and a little bit of salt; cook, stirring, until sugar melts and onions are caramel colored, 5 minutes. Pour in wine and broth, and place cinnamon stick in pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer 1 hour.
• Stir the bread into the soup and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally until the bread disintegrates, 30 to 45 minutes.
• Remove the cinnamon stick. Whisk the soup to incorporate the bread. Adjust seasoning. Serve hot.