Gale Gand's Florentines

this recipe is from gale gand's 'just a bite' cookbook. it is an amazing dessert cookbook. gale gand is a famous, amazing pastry chef. she used to have a show on food network called sweet dreams. these are amazingly easy.

1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs sugar
9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 Tbs) cool unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs all-purpose flour
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 cup sliced almonds, preferably blanched
4 oz semisweet chocolate

mix the sugar and butter until smooth in a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or using a hand mixer). add the flour and mix. add the corn syrup and mix. working by hand with a rubber spatula, fold in the almonds. form the dough into a 1 1/2 inch thick log and wrap in plastic wrap or wax paper. freeze for at least 1 hour. the recipe can be made up to this point and kept frozen for up to 1 month.
heat the oven to 350 degrees.
remove the dough from the freezer and slice it into very thin rounds, less than 1/4 inch thick. transfer the slices to the cookie sheets and bake until golden brown, 10-12 minutes. let the cookies cool on the pan.
melt the chocolate. using an icing spatulat, spread the flat bottom of each cookie with a thick layer of chocolate, then set aside to cool, chocolate side up. let the cookies sit at room temperature until the chocolate is firm. serve chocolate side down. store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

*i made one batch a little more chewy than crisp, by cooking them for a little less time. they were really good.