Friands are small cakes made with almond meal and whisked egg white that are based on the French financier (interestingly, a French friand is a sausage roll). They’re a breeze to make, as all the ingredients are simply folded into the whisked egg whites and then baked.
Preparation time 15 minutes
Baking time 20 minutes
Makes 12
INGREDIENTS
6 egg whites, at room temperature
160 g butter, melted and cooled
250 g (2 cups) icing (confectioners’) sugar
125 g (11⁄4 cups) almond meal
100 g (2 ⁄3 cup) plain (all-purpose) flour
150 g frozen blueberries
20 g (1⁄4 cup) flaked almonds
METHOD
1 Preheat the oven to 200°C. Lightly grease a 12-hole friand tin with melted butter.
2 Use a balloon whisk to whisk the egg whites in a medium bowl until frothy but not firm. Use a wooden spoon to stir in the butter, icing sugar, almond meal and flour until just combined. Quickly stir through the frozen blueberries.
3 Divide the mixture evenly among the greased friand holes and sprinkle with flaked almonds.
4 Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of a friand comes out clean. Cool in the tin for
5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
COOK’S NOTES
Variations
Raspberry and pistachio friands: Replace the blueberries with frozen raspberries and the flaked almonds with roughly chopped pistachios.
Cherry and hazelnut friands: Replace the almond meal with ground hazelnuts and the blueberries with frozen cherries. Omit the flaked almonds.
The Carousel thanks ‘bakeclub‘ for this recipe!