Berry Friands Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C/160°C fan/gas 4. Melt the butter in a small pan, then remove from the heat and leave to cool a little. Grease eight holes of the friand (or muffin) tin with a little bit of butter.
• Blitz 85g (2/3 cup) of the pistachio nuts in a food processor with the confectioners' sugar until very finely chopped. Tip into a bowl with the ground almonds and flour and mix together. Roughly chop the remaining pistachio nuts and set aside.
• Froth the egg whites lightly with a fork, then pour into the nuts and flour mixture with the melted butter and mix well.
• Pour the mixture into the friand tin holes, add a few raspberries to each one, then scatter with the chopped pistachios. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the friands are risen and springy to the touch and a skewer inserted comes out clean.
• Serve warm or at room temperature. Dust with a little confectioners' sugar if you like. They should be light and chewy!
• Twist:
• Pecan Pie Friands: Make the friand recipe above, swapping pistachios for 100g (1 cup) pecans and the raspberries for 75g (2.6 oz) chewy toffee, chopped into small pieces. Sprinkle the toffee over the friand batter before baking.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Butter some non-stick muffin tins (or friand moulds if you have them). Melt the butter gently in a pan. Pour off 155g to cool in a bowl. Take the remaining butter to browning stage by keeping it over the heat and swirling it until it starts to caramelise and smell nutty, then take it off the heat and allow it to cool.
• Whisk the egg whites until frothy (no need for stiffness). Sieve the flour, sugar and ground almonds into a bowl with a pinch of salt, then mix. Add the two melted butters, vanilla and egg whites, and beat lightly until you have a well-combined and smooth batter. Add in ¾ of the cherries, stir to combine, then pour into the tins. Top with the remaining cherries and bake for 25-30 mins until puffed and golden, and a skewer comes out clean.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
• Melt the butter either in the microwave or in a saucepan over low heat on the stove. Set aside.
• Sift the icing sugar, flour and baking powder together into a large bowl. Add the almond meal and stir to combine.
• Add the egg whites and stir to combine.
• Add the butter and stir to combine. Don't worry if there are a few lumps, just make sure there aren't too many. Mixture should be medium thick.
• Lightly grease 10 muffin cups of about 1/2-cup capacity. If your tray has 12, grease 10 and fill the remaining cups with water.
• Spoon 2 tablespoons into each cup, then sprinkle 2-4 blueberries on top.
• Bake for 15-25 minutes, or until they spring back lightly when touched.