Friands

Friands are one of my favourite little treats – I love the lightness and texture that comes from the almond meal and egg white and that there are so many possible flavour combinations.  I went through a bit of a friand phase a while back, and played around a bit with the recipe – and this is the best combination of ingredients I’ve found.  Come up with your own varieties – they’ll be sure to impress!

Ingredients

180g butter, melted and cooled

100g almond meal

50g plain flour

1 ½ cups icing sugar

6 egg whites

¾ cup frozen blueberries

Method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

Sift almond meal, flour and icing sugar into a bowl.  Stir to combine, then make a well in the centre.

Lightly beat egg whites (with an electric mixer or whisk) then beat lightly into the dry ingredients.  Add butter and stir to combine.

Spoon out into a 12-hole friand pan and sprinkle blueberries on top.

Bake on the third shelf from the top for 20-25 minutes.  Stand in pan for 5 minutes, then cool on a wire rack.

Variations:

White chocolate and raspberry: Reduce butter quantity to 100g, and combine with 100g melted white chocolate.  Use raspberries instead of blueberries.

Lemon and coconut:  Add 2 teaspoons of lemon zest and ½ cup coconut to the dry ingredients.  Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to the wet ingredients.

Dark chocolate and hazelnut: use hazelnut meal instead of almond meal; reduce butter quantity to 100g and combine with 100g of melted dark chocolate.

Apple and cinnamon: top each friand with peeled, sliced apple and sprinkle with cinnamon & sugar.

Gluten-free & dairy-free orange & poppy seed: replace butter with Nuttelex and flour for gluten-free flour.  Add 1 tablespoon of orange rind and 1 tablespoon poppyseeds to the dry ingredients, and a squeeze of orange juice to the wet mixture.  Top with a teaspoon of icing (1 cup icing sugar and a squeeze of orange juice), a small orange segment and a sprinkle of poppyseeds.