From our recent Facebook Live video series! Here’s how to make these delicious, melt-in-your-mouth cakes. Easily works with all-purpose flour or a gluten-free flour blend (we use Bob’s Red Mill 1-for-1). Feel free to substitute for another nut; we love them with ground pecans, pistachios, or walnuts, too! A great way to use up extra egg whites, and this large batch can be halved, or the extra batter can be frozen and baked when you’re in the mood.
Financiers
450 g powdered sugar
375 g egg whites (large egg whites weigh 25-30 g each)
150 g almond powder/flour
150 g flour (see note above)
5 g salt
288 g beurre noisette/browned butter
First, you must make the browned butter so it has time to cool. This recipe comes together best when the ingredients are all around room temperature. Place about 340 g butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring to the boil. Keep an eye on the butter while it boils, then starts to brown. You need to use extra butter at this point because so much water will evaporate from the butter before it’s done; you will need to weigh 288 g for the recipe. If you have a bit left over, it’s delicious to use when you sauté fish or vegetables. Take the butter off of the heat when it’s golden and smells nutty (it can burn easily if you let it go too far, it will smell bitter and look black and is unusable at that point). Pass the liquid butter through a seive to strain out the butter solids that are browned on the bottom of the pan. Let cool then weigh what you need to proceed with the recipe.
Next, whisk together in a large mixing bowl the powdered sugar & egg whites. Add the flours & salt and whisk well. Then gradually add in the butter. The batter should rest in the fridge a few hours or overnight before baking.
Preheat oven to 400F. Grease your individual cake molds/mini muffin pans well. Fill molds 3/4 of the way, bake until golden brown and immediately take out of the molds when baked. Can soak the cakes in rum (or other alcohol) syrup: 1/2 c sugar, 1/2 c water, pinch salt – bring to boil. Off heat, add alcohol to taste.
