These little cakes or cookies called "financiers" or "friands" are almost unbearably cute, and are so delicious. They do have a bit of a teddy bears' picnic look, but they are very richly flavored and entirely grown up. I can't think of anything I'd rather have with my tea or coffee. I have not made these cookies before, but I've always admired them. I recently found a little silicon baking mold that will do 20 at a time, so I was ready to go. I had a Dorie Greenspan model in Paris Sweets and a Bugat model inThe French Cookie Book..
Both of these books have produced reliable results for me. Nonetheless, I meddled and mixed things up a bit, attempting to retain the elements the two recipes had in common, and hoping that the end product could still be considered a financier or friand. This is what I did to make 40 of these little tablets-each 1"X2"X3/4". Of course you can make them in different sizes- Dorie Greenspan says she sometimes makes them in mini muffin tins. You would, of course, adjust your baking time. I think the classic ones are done in tiny, individual molds, on a baking sheet.
First, I skinned some almonds, and saved 40 halves for toppings. Naturally, it is not necessary to blanch your almonds, you can buy them this way. I just didn't have any blanched ones when my silicon mold came in the mail, and I couldn't wait. I also discovered (by accident) that if you leave the almonds in the boiling water a little too long while blanching them, the halves practically separate themselves. (It is also not necessary to put almonds on them at all. You could have them plain. Or, as Ms. Greenspan does, you could top them with a sliver of fruit.)
I then put 1/3 cup of the almonds and 1/3 cup of confectioners sugar in the food processor, and ran it until it looked evenly grainy, added 4 tbsps more confectioners sugar, and pulsed it until it looked floury. I was careful to stop before itturned to nut butter. This went in the bowl of my electric mixer through a sifter, with 1/4 cup of all purpose flour and 1/4 cup of granulated sugar. I added 3 egg whites, and 1/2 tsp of vanilla. I mixed this all up with the balloon whisk, until it was smooth.
Then I put 6oz of really nice unsalted butter in a small pan, melted it, and boiled it up just until it began to get brown and smell like nuts, and poured it through a fine sieve into a bowl. I turned the mixer back on slow, added the browned butter in a thin stream, and kept the mixer going until the batter was cooled. It smelled really good.
After I made the batter, I had to let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours at least, or up to a week. The longer option could actually, in some circumstances prove very handy, no? I went with the shorter choice this time. I then preheated the oven to 450F, put the silicon tray on a baking sheet, and brushed the pockets with butter. I filled each pocket almost to the top with batter (which had become quite thick) and topped each with an almond half. You could pipe these in with a pastry bag, but I found that a well aimed, heaping iced tea spoon was just fine.
After 12 minutes in the oven, they were golden and a little brown around the edges, and ready to come out . I gave them 4 or 5 minutes on a rack in the mold, and then they were no trouble to pop out of the mold with the tip of a short ,sharp knife, and put face up on the rack to finish cooling.
They are very rich and are very very perfect with steaming hot tea or espresso. I absolutely love them to bits. Did I mention that they smell wonderful?
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