Don’t you love the Holidays?!?! I love it all, the decorations, the smell of the evergreens in my house, and the cooking. Yes.. with Christmas comes baking. And how exciting is that:-) On Christmas I can cook all sorts of fun cookies and enjoy them or give them out. This past Sunday I offered a class on Baking Goods. Most of the recipes were really easy ones, and only took a few minutes to prepare and bake. The attendants were really happy to go home with new recipes and could not wait to try them at home. We made 6 different types of cookies and treats. Florentines were one of them. You will need:

For the crust: 1 1/2 stick of butter, 3 egg yolks, 3/4 cup of brown sugar, 2 tbsp of orange zest, 1 cup of flour, 1/4 tsp of salt.

For the caramel: 6 tbsp of butter, 1 cup of granulated sugar, 1/3 cup of heavy cream, 1/4 cup of honey, 1 cup of sliced almonds, 1/2 cup of dried cranberry, 1 tbsp of orange zest, 1/2 cup of chocolate ( I used white).

You will need to beat your softened butter with the brown sugar and the zest until it is well blend. Add the eggs and beat again. Add 1 tbsp of vanilla extract and beat some more. Add the flour and the salt and mix well. Empty the content in the deep flexipan and cook in a warm oven of 350 for 12-15 minutes. Meanwhile, in saucepan place the butter, honey, sugar and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes. It should come to boil and start foaming. Cook until the mixture turns a very pale brown ( and the temperature should be 240 with a candy thermometer). Remove from the oven and add the cranberries, the chocolate and the almonds. Stir well and quickly spread it over the cake. Let it chill and then cut. Et voila!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!