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:

• Preheat the oven to fan 180C/conventional 200C/gas 6. Generously butter six non-stick friand or muffin tins. Melt the butter and set aside to cool.
• Sift the icing sugar and flour into a bowl. Add the almonds and mix everything between your fingers.
• Whisk the egg whites in another bowl until they form a light, floppy foam. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, tip in the egg whites and lemon rind, then lightly stir in the butter to form a soft batter.
• Divide the batter among the tins, a large serving spoon is perfect for this job. Sprinkle a handful of blueberries over each cake and bake for 15-20 minutes until just firm to the touch and golden brown.
• Cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then turn out and cool on a wire rack. To serve, dust lightly with icing sugar.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Place the butter in a small saucepan and heat until foaming and browned. Remove from the heat and pour through a sieve, then leave to cool. Discard the white solids, leaving only the melted butter. Grease 10-holes of a friand or muffin tin with a little of the butter. Whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until just frothy. Sift over the flour, spices and icing sugar. Scatter with ground almonds and pour in the cooled butter. Fold into the egg whites and mix until smooth and without any lumps. You can chill the friand mix at this stage for 2 days before baking.
• Fill each hole with some of the mix and place the tin or tins on a baking sheet. Bake for 18-20 mins until the friands have risen and are golden and springy to the touch. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for about 5 mins before transferring to a wire rack. Eat slightly warm or completely cool, but the friands are best eaten on the day of baking. Dust with icing sugar before serving with Chestnut fool (see 'Goes well with').

Steps:

• Pre-heat oven to 200deg.
• C.
• Lightly grease 12 friand moulds.
• If friand moulds are not available, muffin tins can be used.
• Place dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine.
• Add egg whites and butter and stir again until the mixture is smooth.
• Spoon evenly into friand moulds and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the tops have started to crack and the edges are golden brown.
• Remove from oven and allow to rest in moulds for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire cake rack to cool completely.
• Dust friands with icing sugar before serving.
• Variations: Before baking, friands can be topped with raspberries, rhubarb or blueberries.
• 2 tablespoons poppy seeds and the grated rind of 2 lemons, oranges or mandarins can be added to the dry ingredients.
• If using citrus in the mixture, a glaze of melted marmalade can be brushed on the cooked friands whilst they are cooling.
• Friands are best eaten on the day they are made.