My mum loves these Florentines, hence, in our house these salted peanut and apricot Florentines are often just referred to as “Mummy´s Florentines”.
So what are Florentines? I´m hesitant to call them biscuits since they are not crunchy, don´t have a snap, and most critically are not great for dunking in your tea! These Florentines instead have a softer, chewy texture and though they may not be good for dunking, are definitely best washed down with a hot cuppa!
Florentines, sweet little disks of goodness, are usually made by creating a thick sugary syrup and stirring in various nuts or dried fruits. A lot of times, Florentines also have a chocolate coating on the base of the biscuit.
How To Make Salted Peanut and Apricot Florentines
My salted peanut and apricot Florentines are the perfect sticky combination of salty and sweet, with crunchy roasted and salted peanuts and some chopped dried apricots. The salty peanuts in the sweet sugary syrup make for a perfect sweet and salty combination!
I choose not to coat the bottom of my Florentines in chocolate (unusual for a chocaholic like me I know!) because I actually think that they don´t need it! If you wanted to though, you could brush these salted peanut and apricot Florentines with a little melted dark chocolate once they have cooled!
The sugar syrup is made by combining butter, brown sugar, some golden syrup and liquid glucose in a small pot and melting them over a low heat. Once melted, the roughly chopped apricots and peanuts are added and stirred in until fully coated.
All that´s left to do then is to spoon the mixture onto trays and bake. Make sure you leave plenty of space in between Florentine mix, as they spread a lot in the oven.
Like most biscuits – Florentines are super quick and easy to make! 10 minutes to get the mixture in the oven and then a 8-10 minute bake! Easy peasy lemon squeezy!
Top Tips for Making My Peanut Florentines
Florentines tend to spread quite a lot in the oven and end up taking on all kind of different shapes! Not the perfect rounds you had hoped for! Don´t worry though, because I have a tip for you!
When you remove the Florentines from the oven and they are still hot and soft, you can manipulate the mix using a metal spoon. Simply use the spoon to push the sides of the mix inwards to form a nice round(ish) disk.
Remove the Florentines from the oven when they are golden and the mixture is bubbling. The Florentines will still be soft once you remove them from the oven and will harden whilst they cool. Leave your Florentines on the baking tray for about 10-15 minutes until they have firmed up enough to transfer them to a wire cooling rack. Then leave them there to cool completely.
I´d recommend using the liquid glucose listened in the recipe below. It adds some sweetness as well as making sure the Florentines don´t go rock-solid. You can easily get it in the supermarket, it´s often sold in a squeezy tube by Dr Oetker.
Store the peanut Florentines in a cool place to prevent them from melting/softening. If you are putting them in a biscuit tin, separate individual layers of biscuits in a tin with a piece of greaseproof baking paper to prevent the Florentines from sticking to one another!
More Biscuit Recipes
Like these Salted Peanut and Apricot Florentines, most biscuits are super quick and easy to make and are perfect for making when you need a quick sugar-fix! Plus, it´s great to fill up the biscuit tin at the weekend and have biscuits ready to have with your tea throughout the week! Check out some of my other recipes here:
- BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER
- Ginger Nut Biscuits – Copycat Recipe | British Baking Classic
- Chocolate Digestive Biscuits | British Baking Classic
- Mixed Nut Butter Cookies (dairy-free, vegan)
- Maple and Walnut Biscuits
- “Haselnussbrot” – Hazelnut Biscuits Dipped in Chocolate | German Baking
- “Vanillekipferl” – Vanilla Crescents | German Baking
- Traditional Scottish Shortbread
- Easy Iced Lemon Biscuits
Salted Peanut and Apricot Florentines
Recipe
Ingredients (makes 18):
- 60g unsalted butter
- 60g light brown sugar
- 2 tsp liquid glucose (I use Dr Oetker´s)
- 4 dried apricots, finely chopped
- 150g salted, roasted peanuts, roughly crushed
- 1.5 tbsp plain flour
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and line 2-3 large baking trays with some greaseproof paper.
- In a small pot, melt the butter, sugar and liquid glucose until it forms a smooth sticky liquid.
- Add all of the remaining ingredients to the pot and mix until thoroughly combined.
- Next, dollop teaspoonfuls of the mix onto your prepared baking trays, leaving plenty of space between each as the Florentines will spread during baking.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes until golden and the mixture is bubbling.
- Remove the Florentines from the oven and use a small metal spoon to manipulate the mixture whilst it is still hot to shape the Florentines into rounds (see tips above).
- Leave the peanut Florentines on the baking tray to cool and firm up a little before carefully lifting them onto a wire rack to cool completely!
- Store in a cool place, with some baking paper in between layers to prevent the Florentines from sticking.
