Financiers are tasty, small French cakes made with almond meal, egg whites and beurre noisette (aka browned butter). It is the perfect recipe to use up excess egg whites.
MELT: Place butter in an unheated stainless steel pot. Place over low heat and swirl occasionally (not stirring), until butter has melted.
100 grams unsalted butter
EVAPORATE: Let butter come to a simmer. It will start to sizzle and sputter as the water comes to a boil. Stir constantly and gently with a silicone spatula to allow water to evaporate from the butter.
BROWN: Once the sizzling sound becomes softer, it is an indication that almost all the water has evaporated. The butter will now start to foam and you will detect a whiff of nuttiness. Remove from heat at this point. Stir constantly and gently to allow the residual heat toast the milk solids. Stir until you see brown specks dotting throughout the foam. Return to heat as needed if the butter has cooled down too much or you are unable to see the brown specks forming.
COOL: Once the brown specks are dotting throughout the foam, place the pot in the bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Alternatively, pour the butter into a heatproof bowl / measuring jug, scrapping all the browned bits out.
Let browned butter cool completely before using.
Financiers
Preheat oven to 190°C (conventional) / 180°C (convection). If using silicone moulds, no greasing/flouring is needed. If using metal/muffin tins, butter then dust the tins with flour. Invert the metal tins to dust out excess flour.
Whisk icing sugar, almond meal, flour and cornstarch together in a mixing bowl. For stand mixer, just use a paddle and mix on low speed until incorporated.
Pour in egg whites and whisk until incorporated. For stand mixer, mix on medium-low speed until incorporated.
90 grams egg white
Slowly drizzle in the cooled browned butter and whisk to incorporate into the batter. If you don't have someone to help you pour in the browned butter while you whisk, you can pour in a bit browned butter, whisk, pour, whisk, and repeat. For stand mixer, keep the mixer running on low speed and drizzle in the browned butter. The resulting batter is quite liquidy.
Fill the moulds up to 80% full. You can use spoons or measuring cups to scoop the batter into the moulds. Alternatively and for faster filling of the moulds, transfer the batter into a piping bag. Twist and seal the large end. Holding the piping bag upside down (to prevent the batter from just flowing out), snip off a little of the tip. Pipe the batter into the moulds. As you get more confident, you can snip off a bit more of the tip to fill the moulds faster.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
Let the financiers cool in the mould/tin for 10 minutes. Carefully unmould the financiers using a palette knife and let the cool completely on a wire rack.
Serving and Storage
The financiers are best on the day they are made. They can be stored in an air-tight container at room temperature for 1 to 2 days. Longer than that, they should be stored in an air-tight container in the refrigerator where they should last for about 5 to 7 days. Let the financiers come to room temperature or warm them up briefly in the oven/microwave before serving.
Let the financiers come to room temperature or warm them up briefly in the oven/microwave before serving.
Variations
Classic Blueberry: Fill the moulds with financier batter. Add in fresh or frozen blueberries, pressing them halfway down into the batter. Bake as per instructions.
Chocolate Pecan: Whisk cocoa powder and hot water together. Let cool. Mix in half of the financier batter. Fill the moulds with half original batter and half chocolate batter. Top with pecan and sprinkle with cocoa nibs. Pecan can be substituted with other nuts. Bake as per instructions
1 tablespoon cocoa powder, 2 teaspoon hot water
Matcha Adzuki: Whisk matcha and hot water together. Let cool. Mix in half of the financier batter. Fill the moulds with half original batter and half matcha batter. Scoop sweetened adzuki (those from a can) into the centre of the batter. Bake as per instructions.
1 tablespoon matcha powder, 1 tablespoon hot water
NOTES
The recipe makes enough to fill my round silicon mould - there are 15 mini rounds and each is 4cm in diameter and 2cm tall. Each mould holds approximately 30ml of batter (i.e total 450 ml)
For my rectangular silicon mould - there are 12 rectangles, each is 8cm x 3cm x 3cm. It holds about 70ml of batter (total 840ml). Double the recipe to make enough to fill the moulds.