Vegan Florentine cookies (or last minute Christmas bakery)

If you’re in a rush and still in need for a great Christmas treat search no more! This is the recipe for you: vegan Florentine cookies made with sliced almonds. They have a heavenly caramelly flavour, are sweet and nutty, and really pretty too—but made in no time.

For many of you the Christmas season is not necessarily tranquil and festive, but really stressful instead. I know what I’m talking about. December is the month of my birthday as well as birthdays of friends/family members. Which means birthday parties in addition to the usual meeting friends once more before the new year comes around, Christmas parties, last minute shopping and what not. In case you don’t set for some serious Christmas baking on one of the weekends prior to Christmas Eve you’ll most likely be on a thight schedule. But hey—that doesn’t mean you’ll be left without some delicious treats! Luckily you’ve got this vegan Florentine cookie recipe now which is super easy yet impressive in case you’re expecting guests.

These vegan Florentine cookies are amongst my favourite Christmas recipes (along with my festive applesauce gugelhupf). You’ll only need 5 ingredients plus the optional chocolate, a baking sheet and a pot. And after about 25 minutes your kitchen will smell gorgeous and you’ll be (almost) done. Only the cutting requires a little more of your time once the cookies have cooled down. Coating them with chocolate is completely optional. I’ve made these Florentines plenty of times and they are absolutely delicious, even without the chocolate decoration.

So if you are searching for a last minute addition to your Christmas table you should totally be making these!

Vegan Florentine cookies

Ingredients (for 1 baking sheet)

• 6 tbsp almond butter + 175 ml water
• 160 g raw cane sugar (I’ve also successfully made this recipe with coconut blossom sugar)
• 60 g maple syrup
• 100 g vegan organic butter
• 400 g sliced almonds (you may not need all of this)
• 200 g vegan dark chocolate (I love Original Beans – the Cru Udzungwa 70% is a perfect match here)

Method

Whisk together almond butter and water. Now place all ingredients (except for the sliced almonds) in a medium-sized pot and heat on high. Stir well. Once your mixture starts bubbling, reduce the heat and cook while stirring constantly for approx. 10 mins.

In the meantime, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 200°C.

Let the mixture simmer until the sugar is caramelising and the colour turns a little darker. Now add about 3/4 of the sliced almonds. In case the mixture is still rather runny, add the remaining almonds as well. Mix thoroughly until all almonds are coated evenly, then spread everything on the parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 200°C for 10-12 min until golden brown. Remove from the oven.

After 2-3 hours your Florentine cookies should have cooled down sufficiently so you can slice them. Just give it a try: in case they’re still too soft and sticky wait a little longer. Slice them in long rectangles first, then into triangles. It helps to clean the knife in between.

Chocolate coating (optional)

Melt your chocolate in a double boiler. For the coating you then have three options.

1. The easiest would be to simply melt some chocolate and drizzle it over the cookies with a spoon creating fine lines. For this purpose 100g of chocolate would probably suffice.
2. If you’re a chocoholic (like me) you can do the following: instead of cutting the mass in pieces leave it on the sheet to cool down completely. Then turn your “massive cookie” over and coat the bottom side with all of the melted chocolate. Cut into pieces once the chocolate has set.
3. Option three requires the most effort, but definitely looks most impressive. Dip your Florentine triangles halfway in your melted chocolate. Place on baking parchment until chocolate has set.

Keep your vegan Florentine cookies in an airtight container, in a dry and cool place. In case they are still a bit sticky leave them out to dry overnight, preferably in a room with low humidity.

Let me know in the comments how you liked this recipe. What kind of treats do you prepare at the last minute? Enjoy Christmas baking and don’t let all the festivities stress you. Much love, Caro