Chocolate Peanut Butter Florentine Sandwich Cookies
Florentine cookies are thin, crispy, and caramely – and these are filled with a chocolate peanut butter buttercream for the ultimate sandwich cookie.
Equipment
- Digital Food Scale
- Food Processor
- Heatproof Mixing Bowl
- Half Sheet Pan
- Parchment Paper Sheets
- Stand Mixer
- Piping Bag
- Ateco Tip #864
Ingredients
Dough
- 170 grams blanched slivered almonds
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 142 grams cane sugar
- 57 grams salted butter (chilled)
- 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- 28 grams light corn syrup
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Filling
- 310 grams powdered sugar (sifted)
- 113 grams salted butter (softened)
- 28 grams Dutch cocoa powder (sifted)
- 28 grams peanut butter
- 1 to 3 teaspoons milk
Instructions
- To make the dough: Process the almonds in a food processor for exactly 30 seconds. Transfer the ground almonds to a plastic mixing bowl, add the sea salt, and whisk together to combine the dry ingredients.
- In a medium pot add together the cane sugar, butter, cream, and corn syrup. Cook over medium heat with a high heat spatula until the sugar is dissolved.
- Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reaches 197°F to 200°F on a digital thermometer. Immediately remove from the heat. Pour the hot sugar mixture over the almonds, and stir several times. Add the vanilla extract, and stir to combine completely.
- Let the mixture rest at room temperature for about 15 minutes, until it has cooled enough to touch.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 4 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Using your hands, form the dough into 44 balls and place them on each prepared baking sheet (11 should fit on each cookie sheet): line up 3 balls of dough along each long side of the cookie sheet, then zigzag 5 additional balls of dough down the middle.
- Bake for 11 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool completely on the cookie sheets.
- To make the filling: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or any electric mixer works), add the powdered sugar, butter, cocoa, peanut butter, and milk.
- Mix on low until combined, increase the speed to medium speed, then to high speed, and mix for 2 to 3 minutes more, or until light and fluffy. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl part way through mixing to ensure the frosting is smooth and creamy. Transfer the filling to a piping bag fit ted with Ateco tip #864.
- Pair the cookies together by size, and turn over every other one. Pipe a swirl of frosting onto each turned over cookie, starting around the outer edge and spiraling into the middle. Care fully sandwich the pairs.
- Store in a cool dry place for up to 3 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.
Notes
Tips
- I highly recommend using a digital food scale for this recipe! I recommend using a scale for every recipe, but if you don't usually do that, please listen to me here! Florentines are a temperamental cookie, therefore using a scale is going to give you better results each time as you can focus on the skills it takes to create these cookies and know your measurements are accurate each time.
- Make sure your butter is cold, straight from the fridge. This is important because if the butter is a different temperature, it heats and cooks differently. This was one of the main things I noticed when creating this recipe and testing it again and again, and having my bakery staff make it over and over, and different people using different temperature butter - it made the florentines wildly inconsistent as far as texture goes. And the texture is super important here, so that's why I created this recipe using cold butter straight from the fridge, as it makes it so easy to make this recipe for florentines perfect every time!
- Grinding the almonds should be done for exactly 30 seconds. This, just like the cold better matters for the final texture of the florentines.
- I recommend using a plastic mixing bowl for these, as the mixture can get very hot and using a glass or metal bowl can burn your hand. You can use glass or metal, but just be careful when touching it as the dough is very hot.
- These have minimal ingredients, so use the best organic ingredients as every ingredient matters.
- Your florentine dough balls should be at room temperature before they go into the oven. If they still seem very warm, you can let them sit on the cookie sheets for a few more minutes. This is important, because it has to do with the temperature of the sugar before it gets baked. If the dough is still too warm, the florentines will be much more holey, brittle, fragile, and break very easily. If you noticed this happened, try letting your florentines sit for a few more minutes before baking.
- On the flip side, if your florentines are small in diameter and seem very thick, then you waited too long to put them into the oven! Florentines are very temperamental, so all these steps and tips are in place for a reason. Take note of how your florentines come out the first time, and adjust from there. It may take you longer to ball them the first few times you make them, and if that is the case, you might want to ball two trays, bake them, and then continue to ball the other two trays as opposed to balling them all together and letting them sit for too long.
- I use Ateco tip #864 to fill the florentines, it's just kinda my thing. But, you can use any tip you like or no tip at all!
- Florentines are partially delicious because of their golden brown color, as that brings out the flavor. If your florentines don't look golden brown, then don't be afraid to bake them a little bit longer. Go 1 to 2 minutes and then check again. All ovens are different, and some may take a couple minutes longer. Just be sure to keep an eye on them and set a timer, as they can burn very easily!
- High Altitude — Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
Nutrition
Calories: 200kcalCarbohydrates: 24gProtein: 2gFat: 12gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 18mgSodium: 85mgPotassium: 82mgFiber: 1gSugar: 22gVitamin A: 214IUVitamin C: 0.01mgCalcium: 24mgIron: 0.5mg
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