Classic French Almond Friands (杏仁费南雪)

Classic French Almond Friands (杏仁费南雪)

INTRODUCTION

It is such a coincidence that when I bought my Madeleine mould at the bakery shop, I also stumbled across some cheap oval shape baking tins. i bought 10 of them with the unit price of 55 cents per tin. I bought the tin with the intention of baking the traditional kuih bahulu since madeleine recipes are very similar to the madeleine and in fact, that day, I did bake some kuih bahulu using the madeleine recipe. I gave some to my neighbour and obviously they can’t differentiate if it is madeleine or Asian kuih bahulu. They called my madeleine as Kuih bahulu .. Lol.

Classic French Almond Friands (杏仁费南雪)

That day while I was searching for madeleine recipe, some how the recipe of friands came out. Unsure of the reasons why it popped out in Google searches, I took a look and I knew my cheap mould can prepare this friands. They have popped out possible because both madeleine and friands are classic French small, petite type of cake serve during tea time.

Classic French Almond Friands (杏仁费南雪)

Friands need to be baked in an oval shape mould called barquette tins. However, the same recipe can be baked in a rectangular mould and it is called financiers instead. So, if you bake in oval tin, it is called friands, if you bake in rectangular mould, it is called financier (like a gold bar) as in the picture above and if you do not have both the moulds, you can always baked in a muffin tin and called it, may be “French egg white almond butter cake” as in picture below.

Classic French Almond Friands (杏仁费南雪)

This is a dense cake that do not use any baking powder. However, since it is prepared using almond meal, it is not hard and have some texture to chew. I am unsure why this cake is so special to use egg white only without any baking powder to leaven the cake. The cake is purely leavened by the egg whites and the egg white are beaten to foamy and not soft peak or hard peak.

Classic French Almond Friands (杏仁费南雪)

There are tons of variations to this recipe . If you refer to the picture below, you will see many berries or fruits are being used. Instead almond flour, hazelnut flour was used. So feel free to create your own friands.

Classic French Almond Friands (杏仁费南雪)

“The friand is a small French cake, often mistaken for a muffin. It is popular in Australia and New Zealand.The principal ingredients are almond flour, egg whites, butter, and powdered sugar. It typically has additional flavourings such as coconut, chocolate, fruit, and nuts. It is baked in small molds, typically oval or barquette in shape. It appears to be related to the financier, though it differs in being larger and not using brown butter.” (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friand)

Classic French Almond Friands (杏仁费南雪)


WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: Prepared 10-12 Friands

Classic French Almond Friands (杏仁费南雪)

  • 5 egg whites
  • 150 grams of melted butter
  • 150 grams of almond meal or ground almond
  • 50 grams of plain flour
  • 150 grams of icing sugar

Classic French Almond Friands (杏仁费南雪)


STEPS OF PREPARATION

  • Pre-heat the oven to 200 degree Celsius

  • Lightly greased the oval shape baking tin (barquettes)

Classic French Almond Friands (杏仁费南雪)

  • In a bowl, light whisk the egg white until foamy. There is no need to beat the egg whites until very light .

  • In another bowl, sift the plain flour, icing sugar and add the almond meal. Stir until well combined. Make a hole in the centre. Gradually add in the beaten egg white and stir until well combined. Add in the melted butter and stir until smooth. Fill the oval baking tin until 85-90% full.

  • Bake in the pre-heated oven of 200 degree Celsius for 10 minutes and reduce the heat to 180 degree Celsius and bake for another 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Classic French Almond Friands (杏仁费南雪)

Note:

  • You can easily modified this recipe by adding berries or fruits to the friands. You can also add 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder to transform it into a chocolate friands. Matcha powder can be used.

  • You can safely used substitute the 50 grams plain flour with almond meals and make the gluten free friands.

Classic French Almond Friands (杏仁费南雪)


CONCLUSION

A very easy recipe. This is not a fluffy cake but a dense cake. If you like semolina cake, you may like this cake. Do give it a try. Remember if you are using a muffin tin, you may have to change the name of the recipe to “ Egg white almond butter cake” as a respect to traditional recipes.

Classic French Almond Friands (杏仁费南雪)

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Classic French Almond Friands (杏仁费南雪)


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Classic French Almond Friands (杏仁费南雪)

Classic French Almond Friands (杏仁费南雪)

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Classic French Almond Friands (杏仁费南雪)

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Classic French Almond Friands (杏仁费南雪)

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