Passion fruit friands

In the 80's and early 90's it was all about the muffin. During the late 90's and into the naughtiness it was all about the wheat and gluten free cake. You can use pre-ground almond but I find it makes the finish product too dense and smacky on the palate. For a fine friand I like to ground up flaked almonds in a food processor this makes a more buttery and lighter texture.

600g flaked almonds
250g good quality salted french butter
10 egg whites
300g caster sugar
100ml butter milk
1 lemon
3 large passion fruit
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

ICING SUGAR:
400g full fat cream cheese
3 passion fruit
50g sugar

METHOD:
Place the flaked almonds in the food processor and blend till very fine then tip into a large mixing bowl, you could use pre-ground almonds instead however I find the texture is more dense and the finished product isn't as moist.
Place the butter in a small pot and melt over a medium heat, once melted put aside to cool slightly.
Add to the almonds, caster sugar, baking powder, soda and cinnamon and mix together till well combined. Zest and juice the lemon onto the dry mixture and stir in the passion fruit, buttermilk and egg whites till incorporated and finally stir in the butter till evenly combined.
I like to pour the friand mixture into a container and refrigerate for at least 8 hours to set before cooking this will also give a more even rise to the finished product.
The mixture yields around 24 friands and the batter will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days so you don't necessarily need to cook off the whole mixture all at once.
To cook the friands grease a friand baking tin and spoon in mixture till 3/4 full and place friands in pre-heated oven at 180oC on middle shelf for around 24-26 mins. Once cooked the friands should be golden and slightly crisp on top. Leave to cool for at least 20 minutes before attempting to remove from pan.
To make the icing cut the passion fruit in half and spoon the seeds and flesh into a small pot and add sugar, place on a medium to high heat and bring to a rapid boil for a couple of minutes till the passion fruit resembles a syrup then remove from heat and leave to cool. Using either a electric mixer or good old fashioned gorilla arm and spatula beat the cooled passion fruit syrup in to the cream cheese till evenly whipped and combined. Using a tablespoon quinelle the icing onto each of the friands, an optional way to garnish the friands is using a teaspoon add 3 or 4 passion fruit seeds to the top of the icing.