Florentine Cookies Recipe – Low Carb Keto Gluten-Free

 This Florentine Cookies Recipe is an easy but impressive treat to serve your guests or gift at the holidays. Wrapped up in cellophane and tied with a ribbon you can win over the pickiest gift recipient.

Florentine Cookies – Low Carb, Keto, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Sugar-Free, THM S

I began this post over 2 years ago but never finished it. It just got buried behind other things and I forgot about it! What better time to share it now that the holiday season is beginning?

The following little paragraph is as far as I got writing about Florentine Cookies the first time.

Me, in May 2016: We had a baby sprinkle for one of my best friends this week. She is having her 6th baby any day! She loves florentine cookies so I spent a few hours the morning of the baby sprinkle trying to come up with a healthy recipe for them. The first two tries were total flops. The cookies didn’t spread out the way they are supposed to. I thought the third batch came out ok but still not good enough to serve at the sprinkle. After a couple days in the fridge, I tried them again. Now I loved them! I’m glad I didn’t throw out the little scrap of paper I wrote the recipe on.

That baby is now over 2 and this Florentine Cookie Recipe is finally seeing the light of day!

We moved this past summer so the photos of these cookies taken in my old house are making me feel a little nostalgic. We were there just until 10 years and celebrated 10 Christmases there. I remember my oldest son, then 3, now 12, going down to peek under the Christmas tree. (We had a hidden video camera and got this special moment on tape!) He walked slowly towards the tree, looked at the pile of presents, touched the fire truck that just had a bow on it, and suddenly it clicked. Santa came. He ran up the stairs as fast as could to tell us, screaming “Santa came!” over and over again. I’m getting teared up just remembering.

What is a Florentine Cookie?

A Florentine biscuit is a sweet pastry of nuts and fruit. Florentines are made of nuts and candied cherries mixed with sugar melted together with butter and honey, cooked in an oven. They are often coated on the bottom with chocolate. Other types of candied fruit are used as well. –Wikipedia

These have nuts but no dried fruit, honey, or sugar to keep them keto friendly. But, of course, I couldn’t skip the chocolate.

Since these are sandwich cookies they have a few more carbs than many of my other recipes. Each one is 2 generous sized cookies filled with sugar-free chocolate. If you are looking to reduce the carbs or calories simply drizzle them with chocolate and forget the sandwich step. They are delicious either way.

Looking for other healthy cookie recipes? Check out my Peanut Butter Cup Cookies, Butter Pecan Cookies, and Triple Chocolate Cookies!

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5 from 2 votes

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Florentine Cookies Recipe

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

10 mins

Total Time

25 mins

 

This Florentine Cookies Recipe is an easy but impressive treat to serve your guests or gift at the holidays. Wrapped up in cellophane and tied with a ribbon you can win over the pickiest gift recipient.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American, Italian, Italian American

Keyword: florentine cookies

Servings: 8

Calories: 275 kcal

Author: Taryn

Ingredients

• 1 cup  almonds coarsely ground in a food processor
• 1/4 cup  Trim Healthy Mama Gentle Sweet  or my sweetener
• 2  tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp molasses
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp gelatin
• 3 oz bar sugar-free chocolate

Instructions

1. Combine the sweetener, butter, molasses, and cream in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil for one minute. Remove from the heat and add the chopped almonds. Cool for 20 minutes. 

2. Preheat the oven to 350. Stir the gelatin into the cookie dough. Drop rounded tablespoons onto the parchment-lined baking sheets, 8 cookies per tray. Spread the dough into thin circles.

3. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden around the edges. Cool completely.

4. Melt the chocolate in the microwave or on a double boiler. (I melt chocolate by microwaving for 30-second increments and stirring after each. When it is 75% melted just stir until the rest of the chocolate melts). 

5. Spread the bottom of one cookie with a little chocolate. Sandwich with another cookie. Store in the refrigerator. They are crisper after chilling.

Recipe Notes

Notes on Sweeteners: 

I use my own blend of xylitol, erythritol, and stevia in my recipes. This is twice as sweet as sugar. It is comparable to Trim Healthy Mama Gentle Sweet and Truvia.

To sub in Swerve use 1.5 to 2 times the amount of sweetener called for.

 

To sub in Pyure or Trim Healthy Mama Super Sweet use half the amount of sweetener called for.

 

Substitutions will work in most recipes. They may not work in candies, such as caramel.

 

*** I get a lot of comments from my low carb readers on the use of molasses. I use it for flavor, not sweetness. One teaspoon of molasses has 5 grams of carbs. This recipe uses 1/2 tsp divided by 8 servings. That is less than 1 gram of carbs from the molasses. If you prefer you can just omit it.

Nutrition Facts

Florentine Cookies Recipe

Amount Per Serving (1 sandwich cookie)

Calories 275 Calories from Fat 225

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 25g 38%

Saturated Fat 8g 40%

Cholesterol 17mg 6%

Sodium 32mg 1%

Potassium 100mg 3%

Total Carbohydrates 9g 3%

Dietary Fiber 4g 16%

Sugars 1g

Protein 8g 16%

Vitamin A 4%

Calcium 7.8%

Iron 16.5%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.