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Financiers
are French tea cakes (pronounced fee-nahng-syehr),
also known as Friands (meaning "dainty" or "tasty"). They are made from a sponge-like batter of
brown butter (beurre noisette),
egg whites, flour, toasted ground almonds, and powdered sugar. Financiers are similar to Madeleines
in that they both use a sponge-like mixture that is baked in special
molds. When baked Financiers are soft and springy with a slightly domed
top and a lovely golden brown crust. Take a bite and you can taste the
moist subtle flavor of butter and almonds. Lovely in the afternoon with a
cup of tea.
The batter for Financiers is easily made as there is no beating of the egg
whites. The ingredients are simply mixed together in one bowl. If you do
not want to bake the
cookies immediately, the batter will hold in the refrigerator for a few
days. They are delicious plain but are especially pretty when fresh
berries, like raspberries, blueberries, or blackberries are placed on top.
If you decide to add the berries they are placed on the top of the batter
about halfway through the baking time. I got this idea from Patricia
Wells' lovely cookbook The Provence Cookbook, where she tells us
that this step is done to partially set the batter so the berries will not sink during the rest
of the baking time. The traditional Financiers are baked in
rectangular molds that are said to resemble bars of gold. The other
popular mold is the boat shape (barquette) which I have used here.
However, both the boat shaped and the rectangular molds can be hard to
find in America so you can use small muffin tins.Don't be put off
trying this recipe because it contains beurre noisette, also called brown
butter. This is just clarified butter which has been cooked until
the milk solids have turned brown and have a
rich fragrant nutty flavor. If you really don't want to make the beurre noisette you can make these tea cakes with melted unsalted butter. The
tea cakes still taste quite good but will not have
the wonderful nutty flavor of the beurre noisette. For more information on making Clarified
Butter.
Another point in this recipe. You can
use either almond flour (meal) or, if you are unable to find it, make your
own by processing blanched whole almonds until finely ground. The almond
flour (meal) or whole blanched
almonds are toasted in the oven until lightly browned and then left to
cool. If you are using the whole toasted almonds, let them cool and
then process until finely ground.
Note: For almond flour (www.bakerscatalogue.com). For boat
shaped molds (called barquettes) (www.surlatable.com or www.jbprince.com) |
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