Florentine Lace Cookies

Florentines, a.k.a. “Lace Cookies,” are my favorite unhealthy sweet. Meltingly crisp with just a hint of chew, more nooks and crannies than an English muffin, and a thin layer of tempered chocolate. What’s not to love? Except the white-sugar-white-flour-corn-syrup trifecta of decadent unhealth. Turns out it’s easy to sub in healthier ingredients. What we end up with is, nutritionally, not unlike a maple-roasted pecan (until you put chocolate on it) (which you don’t technically have to) (although it can be organic). 

I’ve experimented with a few permutations, and I’ve learned you can use any combination of nuts. I’ve also learned you can sub out ½ C of nuts for dried fruit – I tried dried mango with a macadamias, and it was delicious – but you will lose some of that lacy crunch. I learned that most of my cookies don’t come out perfectly symmetrical; and I also learned that’s okay!

Preheat to 350 | Makes ~30 cookies

• 2 C raw unsalted nuts of your choice
• ½ – 1 tsp pink salt
• ⅓ C coconut oil
• ⅔ C coconut sugar
• 2 Tbsp full-fat coconut milk
• 3 Tbsp light honey or dark maple syrup
• Optional chocolate glaze discussed below

Instructions

1. With a food processor (or a chef knife, and lots of patience) work the nuts until they’re finely chopped, but not pasty. Add the salt, and set aside.
2. Melt together the fats and sweeteners over a double boiler or in the microwave. A rough slurry is fine. Then pour over the nuts and mix. Wait until it returns to room temp. 
3. Roll teaspoon-size portions of batter into balls, and then place on your lined baking sheet. You’re going to want 3-4 inches between cookies, because they spread. 
4. Bake at 350 for only 8-10 minutes, until the cookies flatten and you see the edges start to crisp. In my experience, honey-based Florentines start to brown around the edges, and even burn, faster than maple-based. So you need to watch the cooking times like a hawk. 
5. These cookies are NOT to be eaten hot. It’s all about the texture, and they need to re-solidify. I store and serve straight out of the fridge. Store airtight so they don’t humidify. 
6. Feel free to coat the backside with chocolate, which is pretty traditional. You’ll want 10-12 oz to coat a batch. Just melt it in a double boiler or the microwave, add 2 Tbsp coconut oil to thin it out, then spread with a butter knife. It’s that easy. I like a dark 70% cacao baking chocolate, and/or pink raspberry chocolate. To get pink raspberry chocolate, pulverize 1 C freeze-dried organic raspberries in a mortar and pestle, then mix in with 10-12 oz melted white chocolate. It’s that simple. And the flavor and color (pink-tart) perfectly complement the green-sweet cookies.