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

Pistachio Macarons - YES - with feet !

Funny little things these - they seem to be "the" in thing in place of cupcakes in all the foodstores of large department stores I believe. Living in the sticks, well away from the big smoke, to be honest - I've never so much as set eyes on one before.

Still there are plenty of pictures in the food magazines - this month's copy of Delicious being one of them. Macarons / Macaroons are on the cover in bright, lurid colours. There is a somewhat subdued picture and altogether different recipe on their website....

Well - they lured me in. I just HAD to have a go ! To be honest, I was rather pleased with the results. I found the cooking times rather off. The first batch were only half set and were stuck solid in chewy state to the tray liner. The second batch, I cooked considerably longer and they lifted off beautifully from the silicone baking sheet. These were still chewy inside and displayed the characteristic feet.

The recipe produced 36 pieces for me of the started 40 - so I wasn't too far out size wise. There is no way I would have got them all on two baking sheets as stated - I needed 4 to give them ample space. If you want bright, lurid colours - you will need LOTS of food colouring. I didn't want to go too over the top with it - but mine definately faded on cooking.

Recipe - makes 20

175g icing sugar

125g ground almonds ( or 75g almonds + 75g pistacio)

3 large free-range egg whites

75g caster sugar

for the filling

150g butter, softened

75g icing sugar

Preheat oven to 160deg C / 140deg C Fan

Whizz icing sugar and ground almonds to a fine mixture and sieve into a bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites with pinch of salt to soft peaks. Gradually whisk in caster sugar until thick and glossy. Stir in flavour / colouring as required.

Fold half the almond and icing sugar mixture into meringue and mix well. Add the other half with a spatula - remembering to cut and fold until shiny and has a soft ribbon like consistency as it falls from the spatula.

Spoon into a piping bag fitted with 1cm plain nozzle.

Line baking sheets with paper (or silicone). Pipe small rounds of the mixture about 3cm across onto the baking sheets. Give them a sharp tap on the work surface to ensure a good foot.

Leave to stand at room temperature for 15mins or so to form a slight skin. You should be able to touch them lightly without any mixture sticking to your finger.

Bake for 15mins (in my case 20), remove from oven and cool.

Meanwhile, make the filling. In a bowl, beat the butter until light and fluffy. then beat in icing sugar and any flavour or colouring. Use this to sandwich together your macaron halves

Sarah-Jane, http://www.siliconemoulds.com/ 11th March 2010