This week, Blue Diamond is at the IFT17 baking industry tradeshow in Las Vegas with the talented pastry chef Nick Muncy! Today and tomorrow, Chef Muncy will be showing guests how to make gourmet cookies with Blue Diamond’s premium almond ingredients. A 2017 James Beard Award nominee for Outstanding Pastry Chef, one of Zagat’s “30 Under 30,” and the creative force behind the new Tooth-Ache magazine, Chef Muncy has his finger on the pulse of contemporary baking and its future directions. “People are moving back toward wanting to do classic things,” he says. And as he shows, almond ingredients are key to giving timeless recipes a new twist.
For this week’s recipe, we’re featuring Chef Muncy’s Florentine Cookies. With just a few Blue Diamond ingredients and a little time, you too can taste one of the delicious treats he is serving at the Blue Diamond booth.
Florentine Cookies
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 15–20 minutes
Makes: Approximately 20 cookies
Florentine Batter
Ingredients:
- 2 cups Blue Diamond Extra Fine Blanched Almond Flour
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon all purpose flour
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- 1 pinch salt
- Blue Diamond Sliced Natural Almonds
Method:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Melt the butter, sugar, and honey in a pot over medium heat. Add the all purpose flour and bring to a full boil. Carefully add the cream, salt, and Blue Diamond Extra Fine Blanched Almond Flour, then bring back up to a full boil. Let cool at room temperature.
- Portion the batter into two-inch cookie rounds on a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Alternatively, you can use a silicone mold, as Chef Muncy does here — to create a 1-by-3-inch rectangle.
- Sprinkle the top of the batter with Blue Diamond Sliced Natural Almonds and then bake at 350°F until the entire cookie is fully browned, about 10 minutes. Let cool at room temperature.
Final Cookie
Ingredients:
- Baked Florentines
- Melted chocolate
- Orange zest
Method:
- Place a small amount of melted chocolate onto the back of one cookie, then press the back of another onto it to sandwich the two together.
- Drizzle the tops with more melted chocolate and finish with orange zest over top. Let cool until the chocolate has set.
Discover an expertly curated collection of contemporary recipes in Chef Muncy’s magazine, Tooth-Ache: toothachemagazine.com
For more almond ingredient inspiration, see recipes.bdingredients.com/all-recipes
Photo provided by Chef Nick Muncy.
