Vegan Florentines - Project Vegan Baking (2024)

October 3, 2021

These vegan Florentines are going to be your new favourite biscuit recipe!! They are packed with flavour yet are completely vegan, gluten-free and oil-free! They take 12 minutes to bake and can be ready to eat within an hour!

Traditional Florentines contain no flour or eggs but I went a step further and also made them without butter or oil! I make these every year during the Autumn and the recipe is so adaptable you can use whatever ingredients you have available.

A thin layer of chocolate on the bottom of these vegan Florentines makes for the perfect bite! Your friends and family will be dying to know the recipe!

If you’re not a fan of Florentines or chocolate, feel free to check out my other recipes here!

Baking tips:

These biscuits/cookies are super simple to make but a here’s a few key tips from my many experiments to guarantee perfect Florentines every time.

1. The most common mistake with Florentines is making them too thick before they bake. If the cookies are thicker than 1/2 a centimetre the edges will caramelise first while the inside remains soft. This will result in soft cookies that don’t have the signature snap! This recipe makes 10-12 cookies so if you find that you only have enough mix for less than 10 then chances are you’re probably making them too thick.

When you’re spreading the mix inside the cookie cutter/ring mould, don’t worry about a few tiny gaps. It’s better to have them too thin than too thick. The sugar will melt during the baking and fill some of the holes, leaving you with a perfectly firm Florentine!

2. Make sure you cut all your nuts and dried fruit on the smaller side. It’s ok to have a few larger chunks but generally you want a mix of sizes so that the large pieces are connected with smaller pieces!

3. Ideally you want two sizes of ring moulds – one about 5cm to create the Florentines and then a 6cm one for rounding out the shape of the Florentines after they bake. I have a set of the below circular cookie cutters which come in handy time and time again! You can find them online and they are super affordable!

4. As mentioned above, once the Florentines are baked, use a slightly larger cookie cutter to round out the Florentines. Just place the ring over the biscuit and carefully pull the cookie inwards and round out any sharp or loose edges!

5. If you’re a chocolate whizz, it’s great to temper the chocolate on these cookies. When tempered, both the cookie and the chocolate will have a lovely snap! I won’t put a full chocolate tempering tutorial here as it’s a very particular science (and art!) but here’s a very handy guide from Gretchen’s vegan bakery!

6. I use a silicone mat for my florentines which makes them very easy to remove once baked. You can also use baking parchment though I would suggest sticking it down with some sugar to prevent it moving.

7. Feel free to get creative with your ingredients! You can swap the pistachios for any other nuts and you can use any dried fruit you like! Just stick to the weight ratios and you’ll be good to go.

Onto the recipe!!!

For this recipe you’ll need:

• 5cm cookie cutter/ring mould (and ideally a 6cm or 7cm one too)