Blueberry Financiers - Pretty Little French Almond Teacakes

If you have never before eaten a financier, you don't know what you are missing !

These are actually quite simple to make. They have a shocking amount of butter, which when browned, makes them very luxurious with a rich nutty taste. Highly calorific too I'm afraid .... that's the bad bit.

For these financiers, I used our 12 cell sponge finger silicone bakeware mould.

I sprayed the inside with a little cake release spray and rubbed it in to the corners before pouring in the batter

Recipe

70g ground almonds

105g icing sugar

35g flour

92g of salted butter - that way I needn't bother adding salt !

92g of egg whites (that worked out exactly on 3 eggs)

1/2 tsp of baking powder

1/4 tsp of vanilla extract

small double handful of fresh blueberries

Preheat fan oven to 230deg C

Brown the butter to a nut brown.

Sift the dry ingredients together and mix in the egg whites and vanilla. I used an electric hand held mixer. Add the hot butter, mixing in quickly followed by the blueberries in the last few strokes.

Cook in the oven for 5 mins, then turn down the heat to 200deg C. Cook for a further 5 mins. Turn the oven off and leave for 4 mins more before removing from the oven.

I dusted the tops with some icing sugar as soon as they came out the oven for some nice sugary tops.

Allow to cool until about hand hot before releasing from the moulds.

These are actually best served the next day. They seem to mature when left overnight

Happy Baking !

Sarah-Jane Nash - July 2012 - www.siliconemoulds.com - silicone bakeware molds / moulds

Fancy a Fine Financier Finger ?

Well - I can't really claim these are financiers I don't suppose as there is absolutely no almonds in these pretty little teacakes....

Saying that, they were just as delightful - if not more so and fitting to share with 100 lovely blog followers. Thank you all so much for dropping in to view my creations and leave messages. It's truly appreciated. I just wish I could pass you all one of these right now with a cup of tea or coffee !

I made cherry financiers last year for the first time and instantly fell in love with these beautiful little French pastries. You can see them here.

This time (as if they were not delicious enough already) - I decided to tweak the recipe and make them instead with pistachio nuts. This worked wonderfully ! These are seventh heaven for pistachio lovers. Especially topped with some roughly chopped and whole nuts. Mmmmm.

DIVINE.....

We've got a new 12 cell sponge finger mould which is just awesome for making little bar like cakes such as these. Each cell is approx 30mm x 30mm x 75mm. The whole mould is approx 295 x 180mm overall. It WILL (as all our silicone bakeware moulds do) need support on a baking tray during use.

These are a lovely size for making little teacakes, bar type bakes and cakes and individually portioned brownies. Ideal size for cakes to go on cake stands for afternoon tea. The best cakes like these - always leave you wanting more.

Lightly grease and flour your silicone bakeware mould (tapping out any excess flour over the sink before filling).

I filled each cell about 3/4 full and then added more pistachios on top which were very roughly chopped - many still whole.

Recipe below made 16.

Pistachio Financier Fingers



With financiers, you need to cook the butter until nut brown.

Recipe

175g melted butter (I use salted)

210g icing sugar

60 g plain flour

120g ground pistachio nuts (I ground whole nuts)

30 > 50g whole pistachios very roughly chopped - leave some whole

5 egg whites

Sift icing sugar and flour. Add ground pistachios and stir. Whip egg whites to break up until they start to foam, but well before they reach peaking. Add the eggs and mix. Quickly mix in warm / hot melted butter.

Pour into greased and floured 12 finger sponge mould. Each cell should be approx 3/4 full. This recipe filled 16 holes, so if you only have 1 x 12 finger mould, then fill a couple of muffin cases with the remaining batter

Cook in a fan oven at 190deg C for 15 > 20 mins until they spring back to the touch. Allow to cool for about 5 mins until hand hot before removing from the moulds and transferring to a wire rack.

Eaten a little warm, I find these a little greasy. Leave them to fully cool. I promise, they taste even better on the second day.

We were good. Oliver and I only had one each when I made them last Saturday. Most of the rest were taken to a very dear friend.

 Victoria - you are a complete and utter angel. We love you to bits x

Now - an apology. My photos are from now on going to be plastered with a dirty great big watermark. I've had it pointed out to me that a Chinese company (that we've never so much as heard of) have been lifting all my blog and website images in the hope of promoting their own products. I have contacted them, but they refuse to remove them and basically told me there was nothing I could do to stop them....

Cheeky, arrogant rat bags.

I hope I can prove them wrong. I'm having to prove all original photos and dates etc for over 40 stolen photos in the hope their hosts are going to make them remove them. Big time consuming job - but I'll do it for the principle.

Sarah-Jane (very annoyed !) 22/1/10 - http://www.siliconemoulds.com/ - the silicone molds cook shop, shipping worldwide

Almond Cherry Financiers - Sheer Heaven in a Cake

Where do I start ?

I've been meaning to make cherry financiers ever since I saw them pictured in a recipe book a very long time ago. Pretty little teacakes... But cherries are so seasonal. When good ones come along, I like to eat them fresh. They generally never make it as far as home as they get scoffed on the journey back.

Despite searching high and low - I cannot find the recipe book. It would help if I could remember which one I was looking for !

Over the weekend, some stunning big fat cherries did make it home and I decided a coveted few would become cherry financiers. The picture I had seen looked so good - yet I could only imagine that I would be wasting those juicy cherries by cooking them. I prepared for disappointment.

Well - I was wrong. These are the most fantastic little French pastries. I ate the first still warm from the oven and my heart skipped a beat. There is no describing these - I really do need to urge you to make these for yourself.

For making these, I used our 11 mini cheesecake silicone bakeware mould. I specifically chose this mould as although similar to a mini muffin mould in diameter, it is deeper with straighter / more upright sides. You could substitute it with a mini muffin mould if that is all you have - or possibly a normal muffin tin.... though I consider those too large for this application.

As these were new moulds I was using, I lightly greased with spray on sunflower oil and then floured - making sure to tap out all the excess before filling the mould.

I googled for financier recipes and found a few. Some had baking powder in them, some did not. I opted for the recipe from Epicurious - but added in 1/2 a teaspoon of baking powder. I also halved the recipe and it fitted perfectly - filling all 11 cells of the mould.

Recipe

70g ground almonds

105g icing sugar

35g flour

92g of salted butter - that way I needn't bother adding salt !

92g of egg whites (that worked out exactly on 3 eggs)

1/2 tsp of baking powder

1/4 tsp of vanilla extract

Preheat fan oven to 230deg C

Brown the butter to a nut brown.

Sift the dry ingredients together and mix in the egg whites and vanilla. I used an electric hand held mixer. Add the hot butter, mixing in quickly.

Pour as quickly as you can into your moulds and then pop in your sweet cherry, with stalk attached.

Cook in the oven for 5 mins, then turn down the heat to 200deg C. Cook for a further 4 mins. Turn the oven off and leave for 4 mins more before removing from the oven.

Allow to cool for a few minutes before unmoulding. If you are anything like me - you'll be twitching and wishing the time away :-P

Supposedly you should allow these to cool - but they are marvellous still warm. The cherries have stared to split and oozing their juices. These are so good that after eating two - I handed the rest into the neighbours still warm. Had I left them in the house, I'd have eaten the lot before they cooled !

Sarah-Jane Nash - http://www.siliconemoulds.com/ - Flexible silicone bakeware recipes July 2010