Blueberry Friands

Another friand variety and probably my favourite because they are blueberry flavoured. I'm going to repeat myself and recommend you buy flaked almonds and ground them in a food processor this will give the friands a better crumb and infinitely lighter. You can use pre-ground almonds but I find the final product too dry, dense and smacky on the pallet. Also this mixture will sit happily in your fridge for up to a week and yields around 48 friands.

600g flaked almonds
300g caster sugar
250g good quality salted butter
100ml buttermilk
10 egg whites
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
150g blueberries

ICING:
200g blueberries
400g cream cheese
100g caster sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice

METHOD:
Place butter in a small sauce pan and melt over medium heat till it becomes foamy then remove from heat and leave to stand. Ground almonds in food processor till fine like bread crumbs might take several minutes to get the right consistency. Then place almonds in a large mixing bowl with sugar, baking powder, soda, cinnamon and mix together till combined. Add the buttermilk, egg whites, vanilla, butter to the dry mixture and beat together for 2 minutes.
To bake friands grease friand pan with either oil spray or butter and 3/4 fill each mold then dot 3 blueberries down each friand like buttons. Bake in a pre-heated oven set at 180oC for 25 minutes.
To make the icing place blueberries, sugar and lemon juice in sauce pan and place over a medium heat, cook for about 5 minutes till a syrup forms then remove from heat and leave to cool till luke warm. Put cream cheese in mixing bowl and using a beater whip air into cream cheese. Pour half the blueberry syrup into cream cheese and beat till well combined. Using a tablespoon place a large dot of icing on top of each friand followed by 1 teaspoon of blueberry syrup, the cakes will keep in the fridge for a day.

Lime Friands

A french almond based cake, usually quite dense however my technique is slightly different and I use flaked almonds and ground them in a food processor just before making the batter. This makes for a moist and lighter end result. I find the pre-ground almonds at supermarkets are too finely ground and dries out.
Also this mixture will make around 24 friands and the batter will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.

600g flaked almonds
300g caster sugar
250g good quality salted butter
10 egg whites
100ml buttermilk
2 limes
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

ICING:
300g cream cheese
2 limes
150g sugar

METHOD:
First melt butter then leave to cool at room temperature. Place flaked almonds in a food processor and blend for around 2 minutes till finely ground, put almonds in a large mixing bowl. Add to the bowl sugar, baking powder, soda and cinnamon and stir together till evenly combined.
Zest limes and add zest to the dry, in a separate bowl juice limes and add buttermilk, egg whites and vanilla and beat together. Pour wet mixture into the dry and add melted butter and stir together till evenly incorporated.
Grease your friand pan with butter or oil spray and spoon in friand mixture till 3/4 full and place in pre-heated oven set at 180oC cook for 25minutes.
To make icing zest limes using a zester and keep skin peeling to one side for later. Juice limes into a small sauce pan and add sugar then place over a high heat and boil for about 5 minutes till you have a syrup and remove from heat. Put the cream cheese in a mixing bowl and  beat till fluffy then slowly pour in 3/4 of the lime syrup while still stirring cream cheese, mix together till evenly combined.
Once friands have cooked and cooled for around 20 minutes turn out from the pan and leave to cool for another 10 minutes. Using 2 tablespoons quenelle cream cheese icing and place on top of each of the friands. Using a teaspoon place a small amount of reserve lime syrup on top of the friands and finally garnish with a few strips of the lime zest.

Carrot Cake Friands

Tiny, moist, and gluten free. These friands have a longer shelf life compared to muffins and cakes, a fresh variation on the usual plain almond or strawberry variety.

600g ground almonds

10 egg whites

250g butter

1 zest and juice of un-waxed orange

1 peeled and grated green apple

100g raisins

100g Walnut roughly crushed

3 Carrots

300g caster sugar

150ml natural yoghurt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

Icing:

150g mascarpone

400g icing sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

12 Walnut halves

Method:

In a large mixing bowl add the ground almonds, sugar, crushed walnuts, raisins, cinnamon, baking powder, peeled and finally grated carrots, evenly combine with mixing spoon. Then melt the butter and add the orange zest and juice, vanilla, yoghurt, and apple. Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix together till evenly combined.

Place the friand batter in the fridge for 8 hours or over night.

Once the batter has chilled heat oven to 160oC, grease 12 hold friand pan with spray oil or a little vegetable oil (if you don’t have a friand pan you can use a 12 hold muffin pan 3inch width and 1 inch deep) then spoon in the mixture till 3/4 level with the top of the moulds and place in oven for 30 minutes they should be a very pale golden brown on top.

Leave to cool for 10-15 minutes before removing from pan, when removing run a clean knife round the edges and they should come out clean (remove from pan while still warm not cool other wise they tend to stick).

In a mixing bowl place the mascarpone, lemon juice and icing sugar and blend together till smooth. You can either pipe the icing onto friands or spoon icing over the friands and garnish with a walnut on top of the icing. Leave the icing to set for 30 minutes before serving.
This mixture is enough for 24 friands; the batter can be stored for up to a week in an air tight container in refrigerator.