I made these cookies in honour of a friend of mine. She is one of the sweetest people I know, but when it comes to desserts her tastes run dark and bitter. She will never turn down anything made with molasses, treacle, or straight-up burnt sugar.

I replaced the honey usually used in traditional Florentines (AKA lace cookies) with a combination of molasses and maple syrup to give both sweetness and a bit of bite. If you would rather eat just the crunchy topping than the whole crème brulee and believe that chocolate chip cookies are at their best when the oven was just a tiny bit too hot, these are for you.

Makes about 30-35 cookies.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups whole almonds (not roasted or salted)
• 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp molasses
• 2 tbsp cream
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees f
2. Finely chop almonds (1 1/2 cups) into small pieces (about the size of a grain of rice) – the food processor is your friend for this step, just make sure you don’t go too far and create almond flour
3. Combine chopped almonds, flour (3 tbsp) and salt (1/2 tsp) in a large bowl and set aside
4. Place butter (1/2 cup), brown sugar (3/4 cup), maple syrup (2 tbsp), molasses (1 tbsp) and cream (2 tbsp) in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil
5. Simmer until the sugar is fully dissolved
6. Add vanilla (1/2 tsp) to butter mixture
7. While butter mixture is still hot, pour into dry ingredients and stir until completely combined
8. Set aside to cool for at least 20 minutes
9. Form small balls (about 1 -2 tsps) and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment – make sure to leave lots of space as these will s-p-r-e-a-d out and you wouldn’t want one giant cookie (or would you?)
10. Bake for about 8-10 minutes, until just turning a slightly browner colour – rotate the cookie sheet partway through if your oven tends to be at all uneven
11. Let cool and firm up for at least 10 minutes before eating, if you can

Notes:

• Some recipes tell you to skin the almonds before chopping them. If you are inclined to do that, don’t let me get in your way. I will tell you, though, that these are delicious with unskinned almonds and the skins give a nice toasty flavour that complements the rich molasses.
• When I say that these cookies spread, I am not kidding. Give them more space than you think they need, then add a bit more: