Chocolate Florentine

 I have always enjoyed eating florentines but never thought to make them. Florentines are thin and crispy and typically has nuts or fruit in the batter. Other times, florentines are plain and dipped in chocolate or chocolate is sandwiched between two florentine to make a sandwich. I had two inspirations to make florentines. Every year, my friend gives me a tin of holiday cookies and one of my favorites is the florentine. Also, this cookies has a lot of oatmeal and my dad likes cookies with oatmeal in it (If you do too, check out Oatmeal Cookies).

Florentines are similar to lace cookies but there are some notable differences, one being the fact that florentines use a lot more oatmeal and uses corn syrup while lace cookies uses just butter and has a chewier consistency. Since there are no leavening agents in the cookies, it is easy to play with proportions of certain ingredients such as sugar. I used 3/4 cup of sugar instead of the 1 cup this recipe called for. I felt with corn syrup and chocolate, the cookie would be overwhelmingly sweet so I cut the sugar and I think it is the perfect balance for a cookie. Of course it's not overly sweet but for the individuals with a palette that cannot handle really sweet cookies, use 3/4 cup of sugar. I know my dad will enjoy these!

Chocolate Florentines
adapted from Very Best Baking

Ingredients
2/3 cup butter
2 cups quick oats
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup flour
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-3/4 cups chocolate chips (semisweet or milk)

Directions
1. Melt butter. Let it cool.
2. Mix oats, sugar, flour, syrup, milk, and salt with melted butter.
3.Drop by the teaspoon, 3 inches apart on tin foil covered cookie sheets. Silicone mats or parchment paper works well too. Be sure to spread the batter thin on the cookie sheet.
4. Bake at 375 F for 6-8 depending on how brown you want the cookies to be.
5. After cookies cool, melt chocolate in a microwave or over a double boiler and spread the bottom of 1/2 of the cookies while using the uncovered half to make a sandwich. If you do not want to make a sandwich, consider sprinkling a few chocolate chips on the cookies before placing in the oven.